Category Archives: technology

And Now You’re an Anstronaut: Open Source Treks to The Final Frontier

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There have been a couple of blog posts recently referencing the recent switch NASA made from Windows to Debian 6, a GNU/Linux distribution, as the OS running on the laptops abord the International Space Station. It’s worth noting that Linux is no stranger to the ISS, as it has been a part of ground control operations since the beginning.

The reasons for the space-side switch are quoted as

…we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable — one that would give us in-house control. So if we needed to patch, adjust, or adapt, we could.

This is satisfying to many Open Source/Linux fans in it’s own right: a collaborative open source project has once again proved itself more stable and reliable for the (relatively) extrodinary conditions of low Earth orbit than a product produced by a major software giant. Plus one for open source collaboration and peer networks!

But theres another reason to be excited. And it’s a reason that would not necessarily applied (mostly) to, say, Apple fanatics had NASA decided to switch to OS X instead of Debian. And that reason has to do with the collaborative nature of the open source movement, codified in many open source licenses under which the software is released. Linux, and the GNU tools, which together make up a fully functional operating system, are released under the GNU General Public License. Unlike many licenses used for commersial software, the GPL esures that software licenses under its terms remains free for users to use,modify and redistribute. There are certainly some strong criticisms and ongoing debate regarding some key aspects of the GPL, especially version 3, the point of contention mostly lies in what is popularly called the “viral” effect of the license: that modified and derived work must also be released under the same license. The GPL might not be appropriate for every developer and every project, but it codifies the spirit of open source software in a way that is agreeable with many developers and users.

So what does this all mean in terms of NASA’s move? We already know that they chose GNU/Linux for its reliability and stability over alternatives, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely bug free, or will always work perfectly with every piece of hardware, which after all is another reason for the switch: no OS will be completely bug free or always work with all hardware, but at least Debian gives NASA the flexibility of making improvements themselves. And there in lies the reason for excitement. While there is no requirement that NASA redistribute their own modified versions of the software, there is no reason to assume they wouldn’t in most cases, and if they do, it will be redistributed under the same license. It’s certainly realistic to expect they will be directing a lot of attention to making the Linux kernel, and the GNU tools packaged with Debian even more stable and more reliable, and those improvements will make their way back into the general distributions that we all use. This means better hardware support for all GNU/Linux users in the future!

And of course it works both ways. Any bug fixes you make and redistribute may make their way back to the ISS, transforming humanity’s thirst for exploring “the final frontier” into a truly collaborative and global endeavor.

The Tides of Change?

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As Linus Torvalds has mentioned in several video interviews, probably the main reason Linux has been lagging behind in the desktop market is that it doesn’t come pre-installed on desktop hardware, and the average computer user just isn’t going to put forth the effort to install a different operating system and configure it* than came with their new machine. Recently Dell caused a bit of excitement with their release of an Ubuntu addition of their “XPS 13: The Ubuntu developers” edition laptop.  To be fair, this is not the first machine that Dell has offered with Linux pre-installed, but it does seem to be the first that they’ve tried pushing to the mainstream (or in this case, developer) community (in the past you really had to make an effort to find the Ubuntu option on their ordering form).  Dell is also not the only desktop distributor to offer systems with Linux pre-loaded (indeed, many of the others exclusively offer Linux machines), but it is probably the brand with the most name recognition to the general audience.  Could this be the beginning of the end of the Microsoft monopoly on the desktop OS market?  I am optimistic!

*Be wary of the blog posts and forum comments that recount stories of installing Linux and being frustrated with the difficulty of getting all the necessary drivers for their hardware and using that as an argument that the OS wasn’t “ready” for prime time.  If you have ever installed Windows on a fresh new machine you will be well aware that it can be just as frustrating.  Windows doesn’t “just work” on the machines you buy because it is a superior OS (it isn’t), it works because the system distributors like Dell take the time to make sure that the necessary drivers for the particular hardware in the machine are all included.

Rule of Diversity: Distrust all claims for “one true way”.

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I’ve been programming simulations and algorithms in C++ for several years now, but it’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve really began to appreciate the advantages of diversifying ones language repertoire.  My conversion began after reading The Art of Unix Programming by Eric Raymond last year while exploring new material for ECE2524.  In the book Raymond lays out a list of design rules making up the Unix philosophy and explains how following these rules has produced clean, powerful, maintainable code and been the reason why Unix has so easily evolved and adapted and flourished in the fast paced world of technology from it’s roots in 1969 running on under-powered hardware, even for the time.

The Rule of Diversity appears towards the end of the list, but is interesting in that I feel it is one of the few rules that few people, curriculums or corporations outside of the Unix community have yet to seriously embrace.  I hope that people with a Computer Science background can contribute their own view, but in my experience with the limited software design instruction in my Engineering curriculum, and talking to several other people, the focus has been strictly on Object Oriented Programming (OOP), usually using Java or C++.

As a result of this focus on OOP, programmers (including my past self) are encouraged to  adopt a programming paradigm that may work well for some problems, but not well for others.  I’ve learned from first hand experience that forcing an OOP framework on a problem that doesn’t really lend itself intuitively to the features of the framework (data encapsulation, inheritance) leads to an impossible-to-maintain mess consisting of many layers of brittle “glue” code and a spiting headache as soon as concurrent processing is thrown into the mix.

Discovering the Rule of Diversity was refreshing to me for many reasons, as I tend to reject dogma of any kind, but hadn’t really been made aware of the alternatives when it came to programming.  This process lead to me learning Python, which I now use to do the majority of my data visualization, and becoming interested in Ruby for web development and Haskell to learn about functional programming and how I might employ it to more elegantly implement the mathematical algorithms that are a large part of my field of study (Control Systems).

When a friend of mine recommended Seven Languages in Seven Weeks by Bruce A. Tate I was intregued by the idea of learning 7 different programming languages, along with their strenghts, weaknesses, histories and accompanying programming philosophies.  When I found out that two of the languages covered were Ruby and Haskell I was sold.

I have decided to work my way through the book over the next 7 weeks, and write about my experience with each language.  So far I really enjoy the structure of the book, the motivations of the author, and in particular his method of associating each language with a unique fictional character:

  • Mary Poppins from Mary Poppins (1964) – (Ruby) because unlike other nannies of the time she “made the household more efficient by making it fun and coaxing every last bit of pasion from her charges.” And wasn’t afraid to use a little magic to accomplish her goals.
  • Ferris Bueller  from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) – (Io) ”He might give you the ride of your life, wreck your dad’s car, or both.  Either way, you will not be bored.”
  • Raymond from Rain Man (1988) – (Prolog) ”He’s a fountain of knowledge, if you can only frame your question in the right way.”
  • Edward Scissorhands from Edward Scissorhands (1990) – (Scala) “He was often awkward, was sometimes amazing, but always had a unique expression.”
  • Agent Smith from The Matrix (1999) – (Erlang) “You could call it efficient, even brutally so, but Erlang’s syntax lacks the beauty and simplicity of, say, a Ruby.”  ”Agent Smith … had an amazing ability to take any form and bend the rules of reality to be in many places at once. He was unavoidable.”
  • Yoda from Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – (Clojure) “His communication style is often inverted and hard to understand”, “he is old, with wisdom that has been honed by time … and tried under fire.”
  • Spock from “Star Trek” (1966) – (Haskell) “…embracing logic and truth. His character has a single-minded purity that has endeared him to generations.”

Even though I’ve only began working through the exercises in the Ruby section, I’ve already developed an intuition about the “personality” of each of these languages through Tate’s analogies.  He has also chosen the perfect level of detail, not spending any time on the details of the syntax, or building up canonical examples, only focusing on what makes each language unique and powerful and expecting the reader to explore on his or her own to fill in the gaps.

I’ve almost worked through the Ruby section, so expect a post about that soon.  In the mean time, how do you feel about the Rule of Diversity?  Have you been offput when teachers/mentors/bosses treat a particular idea/framework/concept as “The One True Way”?