Tech-BLOG

Introduction to Java

By Author – Rashmita Soge

 

Java is a programming language created by James Gosling from Sun Microsystems (Sun) in 1991. The target of Java is to write a program once and then run this program on multiple operating systems. The first publicly available version of Java (Java 1.0) was released in 1995. Sun Microsystems was acquired by the Oracle Corporation in 2010. Oracle has now the steermanship for Java. In 2006 Sun started to make Java available under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Oracle continues this project called OpenJDK. Over time new enhanced versions of Java have been released. The current version of Java is Java 1.8 which is also known as Java 8.

Java is defined by a specification and consists of a programming language, a compiler, core libraries and a runtime (Java virtual machine) The Java runtime allows software developers to write program code in other languages than the Java programming language which still runs on the Java virtual machine. The Java platform is usually associated with the Java virtual machine and the Java core libraries.

What is java?

Java is a General Purpose, class-based, object-oriented, Platform independent, portable, Architecturally neutral, multithreaded, dynamic, distributed, Portable and robust interpreted Programming Language.

It is intended to let application developers “write once, run anywhere” meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for

History of Java

Java is the brainchild of Java pioneer James Gosling, who traces Javas core idea of, Write Once, Run Anywhere back to work he did in graduate school.

After spending time at IBM, Gosling joined Sun Microsystems in 1984. In 1991, Gosling partnered with Sun colleagues, Michael Sheridan and Patrick Naughton on Project Green, to develop new technology for programming next-generation smart appliances. Gosling, Naughton, and Sheridan set out to develop the project based on certain rules. They were specifically tied to performance, security, and functionality. Those rules were that Java must be:

  1. Secure and robust
  2. High performance
  3. Portable and architecture-neutral, which means it can run on any combination of software and hardware
  4. Threaded, interpreted, and dynamic
  5. Object-oriented

Over time, the team added features and refinements that extended the heirloom of C++ and C, resulting in a new language called Oak, named after a tree outside Goslings office.

After efforts to use Oak for interactive television failed to materialize, the technology was re-targeted for the world wide web. The team also began working on a web browser as a demonstration platform.

Because of a trademark conflict, Oak was renamed, Java, and in 1995, Java 1.0a2, along with the browser, name HotJava, was released. The Java language was designed with the following properties:

  • Platform independent: Java programs use the Java virtual machine as abstraction and do not access the operating system directly. This makes Java programs highly portable. A Java program (which is standard-compliant and follows certain rules) can run unmodified on all supported platforms, e.g., Windows or Linux.
  • Object-orientated programming language: Except the primitive data types, all elements in Java are objects.
  • Strongly-typed programming language: Java is strongly-typed, e.g., the types of the used variables must be pre-defined and conversion to other objects is relatively strict, e.g., must be done in most cases by the programmer.
  • Interpreted and compiled language: Java source code is transferred into the bytecode format which does not depend on the target platform. These bytecode instructions will be interpreted by the Java Virtual machine (JVM). The JVM contains a so-called Hotspot-Compiler which translates performance critical bytecode instructions into native code instructions.
  • Automatic memory management: Java manages the memory allocation and de-allocation for creating new objects. The program does not have direct access to the memory. The so-called garbage collector automatically deletes objects to which no active pointer exists.

How Java Works?

To understand the primary advantage of Java, you’ll have to learn about platforms. In most programming languages, a compiler generates code that can execute on a specific target machine. For example, if you compile a C++ program on a Windows machine, the executable file can be copied to any other machine but it will only run on other Windows machines but never another machine. A platform is determined by the target machine along with its operating system. For earlier languages, language designers needed to create a specialized version of the compiler for every platform. If you wrote a program that you wanted to make available on multiple platforms, you, as the programmer, would have to do quite a bit of additional work.? You would have to create multiple versions of your source code for each platform.

Java succeeded in eliminating the platform issue for high-level programmers because it has reorganized the compile-link-execute sequence at an underlying level of the compiler. Details are complicated but, essentially, the designers of the Java language isolated those programming issues which are dependent on the platform and developed low-level means to abstractly refer to these issues. Consequently, the Java compiler doesn’t create an object file, but instead it creates a bytecode file which is, essentially, an object file for a virtual machine.? In fact, the Java compiler is often called the JVM compiler. To summarize how Java works, think about the compile-link-execute cycle. In earlier programming languages, the cycle is more closely defined as “compile-link then execute”. In Java, the cycle is closer to “compile then link-execute”.

Future of Java

Java is not a legacy programming language, despite its long history. The robust use of Maven, the building tool for Java-based projects, debunks the theory that Java is outdated. Although there are a variety of deployment tools on the market, Apache Maven has by far been one of the largest automation tools developers use to deploy software applications.

With Oracles commitment to Java for the long haul, its not hard to see why Java will always be a part of programming languages for years to come and will remain as the chosen programming language. 2017 will see the release of the eighth version of Java-Java EE 8.

Despite its areas for improvement, and threat from rival programming languages like.NET, Java is here to stay. Oracle has plans for a new version release in the early part of 2017, with new supportive features that will strongly appeal to developers. Javas multitude of strengths as a programming language means its use in the digital world will only solidify. A language that was inherently designed for easy use has proved itself as functional and secure over the course of more than two decades. Developers who appreciate technological changes can also rest assured the tried-and-true language of Java will likely always have a significant place in their toolset.

ReactJS

What is React?

React is a front-end library developed by Facebook. It is used for handling the view layer for web and mobile apps.

React is a library for building composable user interfaces. It encourages the creation of reusable UI components, which present data that changes over time. Lots of people use React to the V in MVC (Model View Controller). React abstracts away the DOM (Document Object Model) from you, offering a simpler programming model and better performance. React can also render on the server using Node, and it can power native apps using React Native. React implements one-way reactive data flow, which reduces the boilerplate and is easier to reason about than traditional data binding.

What is ReactJS?

ReactJS allows us to create reusable UI components. It is currently one of the most popular JavaScript libraries and has a strong foundation and large community behind it.

If you want to work with ReactJS, you need to have solid knowledge of?JavaScript, HTML5, and?CSS. Even though ReactJS doesn’t use HTML, the JSX is similar so your HTML knowledge will be very helpful.

Capabilities of ReactJS:-

  • JSX JSX is JavaScript syntax extension. It isn’t necessary to use JSX in React development, but it is recommended.
  • Components React is all about components. One need to think of everything as a component. This will help maintain the code when working on larger scale projects.
  • Unidirectional data flow and Flux React implements one-way data flow which makes it easy to reason about the app. Flux is a pattern that helps to keep your data unidirectional.
  • License React is licensed under the Facebook Inc. Documentation is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Advantages of ReactJS:-

?

Adaptability

One of the most heartwarming features of React JS is its adaptability. What makes react perfectly is the capacity to get adopted with ease and convenience. Because of the short list of lifecycle approaches, this is very easy to understand and use. With the advent of ES2015 and ES2016, a more functional and user-friendly programming has become a cyber norm and render function of React JS makes it easy for React JS to comply with a user-friendly and functional programming style.

Usefulness of JSX
The separation of HTML from Java is still a hot debate among programmers. The makers of React JS believe that this separation is indeed a very shallow one as both of them were very well integrated. Thus they introduce JSX and React JS features make it very easy because JSX makes the reasoning of a module easier than ever.

?Free and OpenSource
If a software is free and it is open source, there is needless to say that it is going to be the new favorite of programmers and relevant community. React JS usage is although subject to the curation by Facebooks developers, it is still free and open source, which gives you a chance to get codes developed by elite and most enthusiastic developers.

?SCMA Script
Programmer community believes that React JS features will touch new heights because of the availability of ECMAScipt6 and 7. While the latter is still in progress, its features are being used by big-shot libraries. With help of any good ES transpiler, you can use these stunning features.

?Decorators from ES7
As it has been mentioned before, you do not need to wait for the ES7 features being supported by the Internet Explorer; you can use a transpiler for that. Decorators are one of the most useful features of React JS and they allow you to augment a functions behavior by simply wrapping that in a different function.

Server-side Communication
One of the main reasons why people expect a mass use of React JS is because of React JS features like server-side communication. The library of React JS empowers the programmers by giving them lifecycle hooks to enable the service requests. With help of this feature, you understand the mechanism of XHR requests and thus easily update your library to use them.

Light Railing for Applications
React JS is being used by different companies, developers, and programmers, but one reason why every IT company should consider React JS features, is its lifecycle methods, state and props capacity to provide enough railing to create useful apps. This railing, however, would not smother the free use of different libraries.

Asynchronous Functions & Generators
One of the main reasons for the immense React JS usage is the asynchronous functions and generators offered by ES6. The freedom to pause and resume the execution of a JavaScript function makes these generators popular among developers and programmers.

Flux Library
Like it has been said, React JS is actually a library made of Java scripts. Flux is one of the best libraries that complement React JS and make it very easy for the programmers to manage data across the whole application.

Destructuring Assignments
In ES6, Destructuring Assignments were introduced to the programmers. They allow the programmers to bring a compound object on the left side of an assignment. Having such an amazing feature, one can save some keystrokes and also load only a subset of a required module.
Out verdict goes in favor of React JS and considering very useful features that React JS introduces to the community, we can predict that React JS features will only make it skyrocket in the coming years.

Disadvantages of ReactJS

  1. The high pace of development:?The environment constantly changes, and developers must regularly relearn the new ways of doing things. Everything is evolving, and some developers are not comfortable with keeping up with such a pace.
  2. Poor documentation:?The problem with documentation traces back to constant releases of new tools. Different and new libraries like Redux and Reflux are promising to accelerate the work of a library or improve the entire React ecosystem. Developers struggle with integrating these tools with ReactJS.

Some members of the community think that React technologies are updating and accelerating so fast that there is no time to write proper instruction.

?HTML in my JavaScript!???JSX as a barrier

ReactJS uses?JSX. Some members of the development community consider JSX to be a serious disadvantage. Developers and designers complain about JSXs complexity and consequent steep learning curve.

React isn’t a framework

The looseness with which React can be employed is great for experimentation but challenging when you’re trying to do things the?right?way. Knowing there isn’t one yet will save you some time here.

Introduction of Ruby

Ruby is an object-oriented programming language. It is a dynamic and open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity and has elegant syntax that is natural to read and easy to write. Ruby also has a core class library with a rich & powerful API. It is inspired by other low level and object-oriented programming languages like Lisp, Smalltalk, and Perl and uses syntax that is easy for C and Java programmers to learn.

Ruby is designed to be simple, complete, extensible and portable. Developed mostly on Linux, ruby works across most platforms, such as most UNIX-based platforms, DOS, Windows, Macintosh, BeOS, and OS/2. Ruby is simple syntax and makes it readable by anyone who is familiar with any modern programming language.

History of Ruby???

Ruby developed by Yukihiro Matsumoto. He has said that Ruby was conceived in 1993. In a 1999 post to the ruby-talk mailing list, he describes some of his early ideas about the language.

Matsumoto describes the design of Ruby as being like a simple Lisp language at its core, with an object system like that of Smalltalk, blocks inspired by higher-order functions, and practical utility like that of Perl.

The name “Ruby” originated during an online chat session between Matsumoto and Keiju Ishitsuka on February 24, 1993, before any code had been written for the language. Initially, two names were proposed coral and “Ruby”. Matsumoto chose the latter in a later e-mail to Ishitsuka. Matsumoto later noted a factor in choosing the name “Ruby”. It was the birthstone of one of his colleagues.

Ruby was designed to streamline the tasks typically involved in programming for the web, i.e dynamically generating web pages, accessing databases and retrieving information from the web server and the users browser. The general purpose nature of ruby makes sit suitable for a wide range of programming called tasks just like Perl, Python & other general purpose languages. The key features of ruby focus on developer happiness ease to use, making it a good language for those just learning to program and for those to get more done with less code. It is pervasive object-oriented features also make it very intuitive.

Future of Ruby

Here is some reason that makes it important for you to start implementing Ruby:

Feature-filled language:- It is quite impressive, combining some really great features of all dynamic languages, taking ideas from the best, strongly-typed as well as static languages to blend them into an object-oriented paradigm to get maximum things done without writing a huge amount of code. The code is less but better-structured which makes editing, reusing, experimentation as well as iteration quite easy.

Open source:- This language is open source; not only that, the community around it, is helpful as well as thriving. The language itself is great with a really idealistic user experience, which makes it attractive to be used by new developers.

Code-based data model:- For Ruby on Rails, data model has to be defined with code. After the creation of initial data model, changes must be made with the help of scripts to manipulate the model.

Well documented:- The language is extremely well documented. The web contains a huge number of resources like high quality, effective and fun to follow video tutorials which are available both for pay as well as free. These are better than many books. There are huge support groups as well as communities which can help you in case you are facing some kind of problem.

Tool options:- The system is relatively simple with a good amount of IDEs for development. Additionally, the ecosystem of ruby has plenty of excellent tools which fulfill almost any need that they arise in the minds of a developer; on top of that most of those tools are open source or free. So this is a good place to work if you want an ecosystem that boasts of topflight tools support.

Rapid development model:- Convention and not configuration is what decides the development model of Ruby on Rails. This simply means that once you have learned to do things in the way that the language expects you to do, then many heavy lifting will be done by it on your behalf. Your work will be very quick, especially in case of many kinds of development tasks.

Advantages over PHP:- There are a number of advantages to using this platform instead of PHP. One of them is that developers do not simply like using it anymore; their impatience, as well as frustration, has grown with the language. PHP is very easy to use with lax rules which make it easy for youre to write bad codes. In fact, in case of alterations, additions or catching of random bugs, correcting everything becomes time-consuming as well as expensive.

Introduction to Blockchain

What is a blockchain?

A blockchain is a decentralized library and a way of doing transactions of the cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum. ?The blockchain is actually a continuously growing list of records called blocks and each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data. This way, Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin wallets can calculate their spendable balance and new transactions can be verified to be spending bitcoins that are actually owned by the spender.

 

History of Blockchain

The first blockchain was conceptualized and made by a person known as?Satoshi Nakamoto?in 2008. Satoshi Nakamoto is the person who evolved this concept and connected as the core component with cryptocurrency bitcoin where it serves as the public ledger for all transactions on the network. ?Through the use of a blockchain, bitcoin became the first digital currency to the solved double-spending problem without requiring a trusted authority.

 

Working of Blockchain?

Blockchain ensures that the money is transferred immediately. No banking channels are used and the money will be liquid able on major crypto exchanges. Transaction?done is a transfer of value between?Bitcoin wallets that gets included in the blockchain.?Bitcoin?wallets keep a secret piece of data called a private key or seed, which is used to sign?transactions, providing a mathematical proof that they have come from the owner of the wallet.

The blockchain implementations could be broadly categorized into two categories based on the requirements of business use cases:

  • Public: A public blockchain is open and anyone can take part in executing the transactions on the network.
  • Private: A private blockchain is closed and is restricted to invite-based participation.

 

How is blockchain helpful?

The blockchain is now integrated into multiple areas solely becoming the next big thing

  • Decentralization of the technology.
  • Blockchain records and validate each and every transaction made, which makes it secure and reliable.
  • All the transactions made are authorized by miners, which makes the transactions immutable and prevent it from the threat of hacking.
  • Blockchain technology avoids the need of any third-party or any of the central authority for peer-to-peer transactions.

 

Future of blockchain

Blockchain will be adopted by central banks, industries, governments and cryptographically secured currencies will become widely used. As blockchain minimizes the cyber risk it will be helpful in future as in now. Blockchain technology could be used to distribute social welfare in developing nations also.

 

Eye Ring

EyeRing is a wearable interface that allows using a pointing gesture or touching to access digital information about objects and the world. The idea of a micro camera worn as a ring on the index finger started as an experimental assistive technology for visually impaired persons, however soon enough we realized the potential for assistive interaction throughout the usability spectrum to children and visually-able adults as well.With a button on the side, which can be pushed with the thumb, the ring takes a picture or a video that is sent wirelessly to a mobile.

A computation element embodied as a mobile phone is in turn accompanied by the earpiece for information loopback. The finger-worn device is autonomous and wireless. A single button initiates the interaction. Information transferred to the phone is processed, and the results are transmitted to the headset for the user to hear.

Several videos about EyeRing have been made, one of which shows a visually impaired person making his way in a retail clothing environment where he is touching t-shirts on a rack, as he is trying to find his preferred color and size and he is trying to learn the price. He uses his EyeRing finger to point to a shirt to hear that it is color gray and he points to the pricetag to find out how much the shirt costs.

The researchers note that a user needs to pair the finger-worn device with the mobile phone application only once. Henceforth a Bluetooth connection will be automatically established when both are running.

The Android application on the mobile phone analyzes the image using the teams computer vision engine. The type of analysis and response depends on the pre-set mode, for example, color, distance, or currency. Upon analyzing the image data, the Android application uses a Text to Speech module to read out the information though a headset, according to the researchers.

The MIT group behind EyeRing are Suranga Nanayakkara, visiting faculty in the Fluid Interfaces group at MIT Media Lab and also a professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design; Roy Shilkrot, a first year doctoral student in the group; and Patricia Maes, associate professor and founder of the Media Labs Fluid Interfaces group.

The EyeRing in concept is promising but the team expects the prototype to evolve with more iterations to come. They are now at the stage where they want to prove it is a viable solution yet seek to make it better. The EyeRing creators say that their work is still very much a work in progress. The current implementation uses a TTL Serial JPEG Camera, 16 MHz AVR processor, Bluetooth module, 3.7V polymer Lithium-ion battery, 3.3V regulator, and a push button switch. They also look forward to a device that can carry advanced capabilities such as real-time video feed from the camera, higher computational power, and additional sensors like gyroscopes and a microphone. These capabilities are in development for the next prototype of EyeRing.

A Finger-worn Assistant The desire to replace an impaired human visual sense or augment a healthy one had a strong influence on the design and rationale behind EyeRing. To that end, we propose a system composed of a finger-worn device with an embedded camera, a computing element embodied as a mobile phone, and an earpiece for audio feedback. The finger-worn device is autonomous and wireless, and includes a single button to initiate the interaction. Information from the device is transferred to the computation element where it is processed, and the results are transmitted to the headset for the user to hear. Typically, a user would single click the pushbutton switch on the side of the ring using his thumb. At that moment, a snapshot is taken from the camera and the image is transferred via Bluetooth to the mobile phone. An Android application on the mobile phone then analyzes the image using our computer vision engine. Upon analyzing the image data, the Android application uses a Text-to-Speech module to read out the information though a hands-free head set. Users could change the preset mode by double-clicking the pushbutton and giving the system a brief verbal commands such as distance, color, currency, etc

5G Wireless Systems

5G technology is going to be a new mobile revolution in technological market. Through 5G technology now you can use worldwide cellular phones. With the coming out of cell phone alike to PDA now your whole office is in your finger tips or in your phone. 5G technology has extraordinary data capabilities and has ability to tie together unrestricted call volumes and infinite data broadcast within latest mobile operating system. 5G technology has a bright future because it can handle best technologies and offer priceless handset to their customers. May be in coming days 5G technology takes over the world market.

5G Technologies have an extraordinary capability to support Software and Consultancy. The Router and switch technology used in 5G network provides high connectivity. The 5G technology distributes internet access to nodes within the building and can be deployed with union of wired or wireless network connections. The current trend of 5G technology has a glowing future.

The 5G terminals will have software defined radios and modulation schemes as well as new error-control schemes that can be downloaded from the Internet. The development is seen towards the user terminals as a focus of the 5G mobile networks. The terminals will have access to different wireless technologies at the same time and the terminal should be able to combine different flows from different technologies. The vertical handovers should be avoided, because they are not feasible in a case when there are many technologies and many operators and service providers. In 5G, each network will be responsible for handling user-mobility, while the terminal will make the final choice among different wireless/mobile access network providers for a given service. Such choice will be based on open intelligent middleware in the mobile phone.

 

While 5G isn’t expected until 2020, an increasing number of companies are investing now to prepare for the new mobile wireless standard. We explore 5G, how it works and its impact on future wireless systems.

 

According to the Next Generation Mobile Network’s 5G white paper, 5G connections must be based on ‘user experience, system performance, enhanced services, business models and management & operations’.

 

And according to the Group Special Mobile Association (GSMA) to qualify for a 5G a connection should meet most of these eight criteria:

  1. One to 10Gbps connections to end points in the field
  2. One millisecond end-to-end round trip delay
  3. 1000x bandwidth per unit area
  4. 10 to 100x number of connected devices
  5. (Perception of) 99.999 percent availability
  6. (Perception of) 100 percent coverage
  7. 90 percent reduction in network energy usage
  8. Up to ten-year battery life for low power, machine-type devices

Previous generations like 3G were a breakthrough in communications. 3G receives a signal from the nearest phone tower and is used for phone calls, messaging and data.

4G works the same as 3G but with a faster internet connection and a lower latency (the time between cause and effect).

 

Like all the previous Generations,5G will be significantly faster than its predecessor 4G.

This should allow for higher productivity across all capable devices with a theoretical download speed of 10,000 Mbps.

“Current 4G mobile standards have the potential to provide 100s of Mbps. 5G offers to take that into multi-gigabits per second, giving rise to the Gigabit Smartphone and hopefully a slew of innovative services and applications that truly need the type of connectivity that only 5G can offer,” says Paul Gainham, senior director, SP Marketing EMEA at Juniper Networks.

Plus, with greater bandwidth comes faster download speeds and the ability to run more complex mobile internet apps.

 

The future of 5G

As 5G is still in development, it is not yet open for use by anyone. However, lots of companies have started creating 5G products and field testing them.

Notable advancements in 5G technologies have come from Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung, Ericsson and BT, with growing numbers of companies forming 5G partnerships and pledging money to continue to research into 5G and its application.

Qualcomm and Samsung have focused their 5G efforts on hardware, with Qualcomm creating a 5G modem and Samsung producing a 5G enabled home router.

Both Nokia and Ericcson have created 5G platforms aimed at mobile carriers rather than consumers.Ericsson created the first 5G platform earlier this year that claims to provide the first 5G radio system. Ericsson began 5G testing in 2015.

Who is investing in 5G?

 

Both Nokia and Ericcson have created 5G platforms aimed at mobile carriers rather than consumers.Ericsson created the first 5G platform earlier last year that claims to provide the first 5G radio system, although it has begun 5G testing in 2015.

Similarly, in early 2017, Nokia launched “5G First”, a platform aiming to provide end-to-end 5G support for mobile carriers.

Looking closer to home, the City of London turned on its district-wide public Wi-Fi network in October 2017, consisting of 400 small cell transmitters. The City plans to run 5G trials on it.

Chancellor Philip Hammond revealed in the Budget 2017 that the government will pledge 16 million to create a 5G hub. However, given the rollout of 4G, it’s unknown what rate 5G will advance at.

Smart-City initiative and a glimpse of Naya-Raipur

Smart-City initiative and a glimpse of Naya-Raipur

 

Smart city is an urban area that uses different types of electronic data collection sensors to supply information which is used to manage assets and resources efficiently. This includes data collected from citizens, devices, and assets that is processed and analyzed to monitor and manage traffic and transportation systems, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement, information systems, schools, libraries, hospitals, and other community services.

The smart city concept integrates information and communication technology(ICT), and various physical devices connected to the network to optimize the efficiency of city operations and services and connect to citizens. Smart city technology allows city officials to interact directly with both community and city infrastructure and to monitor what is happening in the city and how the city is evolving.

ICT is used to enhance quality, performance and interactivity of urban services to reduce costs, resource consumption and to increase the contacts between citizens and government. Smart city applications are developed to manage urban flows and allow for real-time responses. A smart city may therefore be more prepared to respond to challenges than one with a simple “transactional” relationship with its citizens.

According to Professor Jason Pomeroy, in addition to technology, smart cities “acknowledge and seek to preserve culture, heritage and tradition”, such as Barcelona in Spain.Yet, the term itself remains unclear to its specifics and therefore, open to many interpretations.

 

Due to the breadth of technologies that have been implemented under the smart city label, it is difficult to distill a precise definition of a smart city. Deakin and Al Wear.

Four factors that contribute to the definition of a smart city:

  1. The application of a wide range of electronic and digital technologies to communities and cities
  2. The use of ICT to transform life and working environments within the region
  3. The embedding of such Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in government systems
  4. The territorialisation of practices that brings ICTs and people together to enhance the innovation and knowledge that they offer.

Deakin defines the smart city as one that utilise ICT to meet the demands of the market (the citizens of the city), and that community involvement in the process is necessary for a smart city.Smart city would be a city that not only possesses ICT technology in particular areas, but has also implemented this technology in a manner that positively impacts the local community.

 

Characteristics

It has been suggested that a smart city use information technology to:

  1. Make more efficient use of physical infrastructure through artificial intelligence and data analytics to support a strong and healthy economic, social, cultural development.
  2. Engage effectively with local people in local governance and decision by the use of open innovation processes and e-participation, improving the collective intelligence of the city’s institutions through e-governance with the emphasis placed on citizen participation and co-design.
  3. Learn, adapt and innovate and thereby respond more effectively and promptly to changing circumstances by improving the intelligence of the city.

They evolve towards a strong integration of all dimensions of human intelligence,collective intelligence, and also artificial intelligence within the city.The intelligence of cities “resides in the increasingly effective combination of digital-telecommunication networks(the nerves), ubiquitously embedded intelligence(the brains), sensors,tags(the sensory organs)and software(the knowledge and cognitive competence)”.

These forms of intelligence in smart cities have been demonstrated in three ways:

  1. Orchestration intelligence:Where cities establish institutions and community-based problem solving and collaborations, such as in Bletchley Park, where the Nazi Enigma cypher was decoded by a team led by Alan Turing. This has been referred to as the first example of a smart city or an intelligent community.
  2. Empowerment intelligence: Cities provide open platforms, experimental facilities and smart city infrastructure in order to cluster innovation in certain districts. These are seen in the Kista Science City in Stockholm and the Cyberport Zone in Hong Kong. Similar facilities have also been established in Melbourne.
  3. Instrumentation intelligence: Where city infrastructure is made smart through real-time data collection, with analysis and predictive modelling across city districts. There is much controversy surrounding this, particularly with regards to surveillance issues in smart cities. Examples of Instrumentation intelligence have been implemented in Amsterdam.This is implemented through:
    1. A common IP infrastructure that is open to researchers to develop applications.
    2. Wireless meters and devices transmit information at the point in time.
    3. A number of homes being provided with smart energy meter to become aware of energy consumption and reduce energy usage
    4. Solar power garbage compactors,car recharging stations and energy saving lamps.

 

 

Smart-City(Naya-Raipur)

Among the many successful policies and development projects, one of the most ambitious ventures by the state government is Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh’s new capital city, which was recognized as worlds first ever integrated township in January 2017.

Environmental issues are considered to be a global concern today, and much remains to be done for effective conservation. In Naya Raipur, 27% of the land is solely devoted to greenery and the regions environmental policies make it the first Greenfield Smart City in India.

Smooth and safe cycling lanes are constructed throughout the city, promoting the use of non-motorized transport systems. Apart from minimizing air pollution, steps have been taken to conserve water, and every building in Raipur will have effective and compulsory rainwater harvesting systems. The NRDA is maintaining 55 reservoirs in the region, including three lakes.

Public buildings should not only have this system but should be erected on the basis of green building concept. Green buildings use less water, optimize energy efficiency, conserve natural resources, generate less waste and have minimum impact on environment. The offices of NRDA and Housing Board Corporation are examples of such buildings, and a visit to the NRDA shows the building sparkling with sunlight.

In a bid to offer wholesome recreation for local residents, an amusement park is currently being built in sector 24 alongside Jhanjh Lake for water sports facilities. A club house in Sector 24 will offer fitness, lounge, theatre and other amenities while the Immersive Dome Theatre, streaming five-dimensional movies, is already entertaining Raipurians. Ekatm Path, a 2.2 km boulevard is a paradise for morning walkers, and reminiscent of Raj Path in New Delhi.

Purkhauti Muktangan, the cultural village showcasing the rich cultural heritage is a popular spot in the city. Recently, PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the Botanical Garden in Naya Raipur, and the Jungle Safari held as Asias largest man-made forest safari.

In its smart city initiative, NRDA is conducting an online citizen survey, seeking priorities, demands and innovative suggestions from people. This is the first time a newly developing town plan is being prepared with public involvement.

In any civilization the quality of life is dependent on housing and residential amenities. As per an NRDA plan, 21 sectors are reserved for residential premises in the city of which three sectors are built by state housing board corporation. These three sectors are habitable with 5100 units already constructed.

 

 

Virtual Reality Box

Virtual Reality Box-

A virtual reality headset is a head-mounted device that provides virtual reality for the wearer. VR headsets are widely used with computer games but they are also used in other applications, including simulators and trainers. They comprise a stereoscopic head-mounted display (providing separate images for each eye), stereo sound, and head motion tracking sensors (which may include gyroscopes, accelerometers, structured light systems, etc.). Some VR headsets also have eye tracking sensors and gaming controllers.

Because virtual reality headsets stretch a single display across a wide field of view (up to 110 for some devices according to manufacturers), the magnification factor makes flaws in display technology much more apparent. One issue is the so-called screen-door effect, where the gaps between rows and columns of pixels become visible, kind of like looking through a screen door. This was especially noticeable in earlier prototypes and development kits, which had lower resolutions than the retail versions.

The lenses of the headset are responsible for mapping the up-close display to a wide field of view, while also providing a more comfortable distant point of focus. One challenge with this is providing consistency of focus: because eyes are free to turn within the headset, it’s important to avoid having to refocus to prevent eye strain.

Virtual reality headsets are being currently used as a means to train medical students for surgery. It allows them to perform essential procedures in a virtual, controlled environment. Students perform surgeries on virtual patients, which allows them to acquire the skills needed to perform surgeries on real patients. It also allows the students to revisit the surgeries from the perspective of the lead surgeon.
Traditionally, students had to participate in surgeries and often they would miss essential parts. Now, with the use of VR headsets, students can watch surgical procedures from the perspective of the lead surgeon without missing essential parts. Students can also pause, rewind, and fast forward surgeries. They also can perfect their techniques in a real-time simulation in a risk free environment.
Latency requirements
Virtual reality headsets have significantly higher requirements for latency the time it takes from a change in input to have a visual effect than ordinary video games. If the system is too sluggish to react to head movement, then it can cause the user to experience virtual reality sickness, a kind of motion sickness. According to a Valve engineer, the ideal latency would be 7-15 milliseconds. A major component of this latency is the refresh rate of the display, which has driven the adoption of displays with a refresh rate from 90 Hz (Oculus Rift and HTC Vive) to 120 Hz (PlayStation VR).
The graphics processing unit (GPU) also needs to be more powerful to render frames more frequently. Oculus cited the limited processing power of Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as the reason why they are targeting the PC gaming market with their first devices.

Asynchronous reprojection /time warp
A common way to reduce the perceived latency or compensate for a lower frame rate, is to take an (older) rendered frame and morph it according to the most recent head tracking data just before presenting the image on the screens. This is called asynchronous reprojection or “asynchronous time warp” in Oculus jargon.

PlayStation VR synthesizes “in-between frames” in such manner, so games that render at 60 fps natively result in 120 updates per second. SteamVR (HTC Vive) will also use “interleaved reprojection” for games that cannot keep up with its 90 Hz refresh rate, dropping down to 45 fps.

The simplest technique is applying only projection transformation to the images for each eye (simulating rotation of the eye). The downsides are that this approach cannot take into account the translation (changes in position) of the head. And the rotation can only happen around the axis of the eyeball, instead of the neck, which is the true axis for head rotation. When applied multiple times to a single frame, this causes “positional judder”, because position is not updated with every frame.

A more complex technique is positional time warp, which uses pixel depth information from the Z-buffer to morph the scene into a different perspective. This produces other artifacts because it has no information about faces that are hidden due to occlusion and cannot compensate for position-dependent effects like reflectons and specular lighting. While it gets rid of the positional judder, judder still presents itself in animations, as timewarped frames are effectively frozen.

WHAT IS AUGMENTED REALITY

Augmented Reality was first achieved, to some extent, by a cinematographer called Morton Heilig in 1957. He invented the Sensorama which delivered visuals, sounds, vibration and smell to the viewer. Of course, it wasnt computer controlled but it was the first example of an attempt at adding additional data to an experience. Wikipedia describes?Augmented Reality ?as a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are Augmented” by computer-generated or extracted real-world sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.

Augmented reality is actually in simple words can be explained as adding some content in the real world which is actually not present there. Augmented reality is actually creating or adding a virtual world/ things over a real world. It brings 3D content to your eyes in the real world by using any medium like phone camera or web cams.

The first properly functioning AR system was probably the one developed at USAF Armstrongs Research Lab by Louis Rosenberg in 1992. This was called Virtual Fixtures and was an incredibly complex robotic system which was designed to compensate for the lack of high-speed 3D graphics processing power in the early 90s. It enabled the overlay of sensory information on a workspace to improve human productivity.

The best and most relevant example of app popularly known as Pokmon Go. Those who have played that that game knows what that game is. That game is actually creates virtual characters augmented in the actual world. The basic concept of that game is to catch pokmon as you open the app you see a different world in the same world. It just takes the real world as a base and shows augmented /virtual reality effects.

There are some popular apps other than Pokmon go if you want to take some good experience of virtual reality

  1. Ink hunter
  2. Augment
  3. Holo
  4. Sun Seeker
  5. Aurasma
  6. Quiver

 

Use of augmented reality can be done in different fields of study and practical use as:

  1. Education

AR would also be a way for parents and teachers to achieve their goals for modern education, which might include providing a more individualized and flexible learning, making closer connections between what is taught at school and the real world, and helping students to become more engaged in their own learning.

  1. Medical

AR provides surgeons with patient monitoring data in the style of a fighter pilot’s heads-up display, and allows patient imaging records, including functional videos, to be accessed and overlaid.

  1. Military

In combat, AR can serve as a networked communication system that renders useful battlefield data onto a soldier’s goggles in real time. Virtual maps and 360 view camera imaging can also be rendered to aid a soldier’s navigation and battlefield perspective, and this can be transmitted to military leaders at a remote command center from the soldier’s viewpoint, people and various objects can be marked with special indicators to warn of potential dangers.

  1. Video Games

A number of games were developed like Pokmon go and others. The gaming industry embraced AR technology in the best way possible for normal people.

And Much more

Future of Augmented?Reality

Experts predict the AR market could be worth 122 billion by 2024. So this report by BBC tells us that augmented reality has very big market as the development goes on and on.

Laravel – best PHP framework

Laravel is one of the highly used, open-source modern web application frameworks that designs customized web applications quickly and easily.

Developers prefer Laravel over to other frameworks because of the performance, features, scalability it provides. It follows Model View Controller (MVC) which makes it more useful than PHP. It attempts to take the pain out of development by easing common tasks used in the majority of web projects, such as authentication, routing, sessions and caching. It has a unique architecture, where it is possible for developers to create their own infrastructure that is specifically designed for their application. Laravel is used not only for the large projects but also best to use for the small project.

Laravels first beta release was made available on June 9, 2011, followed by the Laravel 1 release later in the same month.

Features of Laravel:

  1. Modularity: Modularity is defined as the degree to which a systems components get separated and then recombines. You split the business logic into different parts, which belongs together.
  2. Authentication: Authentication is the most important part of any web application and developers spent enormous time writing the authentication code which has become simpler with the update in Laravel 5.
  3. Application Logic: It can be implemented within any application either using controllers or directly into route declarations using syntax similar to the Sinatra framework. Laravel is designed with privileges giving a developer the flexibility that they need to create everything from very small sites to massive enterprise applications.
  4. Caching: Caching is a temporary data storage used to store data for a while and can be retrieved quickly. It is often used to reduce the times we need to access database or other remote services. It can be a wonderful tool to keep your application fast and responsive.
  5. Method or Dependency Injection: In Laravel Inversion of control (IoC) container is a powerful tool for managing class dependencies. Dependency injection is a method of removing hard-coded class dependencies. Laravels IoC container is one of the most used Laravel features.
  6. Routing: With Laravel, we can easily approach to routing. The route can be triggered in the application with good flexibility and control to match the URL.
  7. Restful Controllers: Restful controllers provide an optional way for separating the logic behind serving HTTP GET and POST requests.
  8. Testing & Debugging: Laravel is built with testing in mind, in Fact, support for testing with PHPUnit is included out of the box.
  9. Automatic Pagination: Simplifies the task of implementing pagination, replacing the usual manual implementation approaches with automated methods integrated into Laravel.
  10. Template Engine: Blade is a simple, yet powerful templating engine provided with Laravel. Unlike controller layouts, Blade is driven by template inheritance and sections.
  11. Database Query Builder: Laravels database query builder provides a convenient, fluent interface to creating and running database queries.
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