Introducing HTML 5

I keep see references to HTML 5, so I thought I should at least know more about it, so I got a copy of introducing HTML 5 by Bruce Lawson and  Remy Sharp.

Like most people I know a little HTML, but I had not followed the new developments. There was something called xhtml that was some bastard hybrid of xml and html. Yeah I know xml and html are both mark up languages. One of the good things about html was that it was so forgiving of bad markup.  Now I mostly use google sites or this blogging site, I hardly ever write pure html, but I use the GUI.

The new HTML5 stuff is:

• Better  code for forms
• Improved video and audio support with no more plug in
• Some database support that is an update on cookies.
• Support for drawing and drag and drop.
• Geolocation API

The NHS IT project

Now that I begin to think about life beyond lattice QCD, I have to decide on what to do with the rest of my life.  I thought perhaps I would help "sick people." To get some idea of what  the computing issues are in health, I have read The NHS IT project by Sean Bremen.

This was an interesting book about an attempt to introduce new IT infrastructure into the NHS. Bremen  
did a really good job of explaining why having better IT in the NHS was good for patients. It would help GPs communicate better with consultants. I am now a big fan of centralized patients records. Also the use of simplified "expert systems" seemed like a good idea to help with treatment and stop basic mistakes. It was clear from the book, that the reorganization of the NHS was less important than getting the IT correct.

There are many challenges to improving the IT infrastructure in  the NHS. Many GPs and hospitals have their own computer systems, so it will be hard to get all the systems to talk to each other. Even in one hospital there are many different systems

It made me laugh that they were intending to use Microsoft tablets for doctors and nurses on wards. This did seem like an application where a tablet was clearly better than a laptop.

The book was published in 2005, so it would be interesting to find out what progress has been made.
Improving IT in the NHS requires a mixture of technology and "politics" (or keeping the users happy).

Eclipse

It was easy to install Eclipse -- the development environment. I just downloaded  the classic version from this site. I got a zipped folder that I moved and unzipped to a better location.

Next I followed these instructions to get the google addons for Eclipse

Umm, I must now be ready for hello world.

Trying to install android development tools under windows 7

I made the mistake of thinking that it would be easier to install the android development stuff under windows, rather than Linux. So I followed these instructions. but it couldn't find the java SDK. There are a number of workarounds suggested.

The first thing I needed was a recent version of Java.

I had to set some system variables  path and JAVA_HOME. Here are some instructions.  on setting system variables in windows 7.

Just in case I forget this is what I set for JAVA_HOME
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_04