December 9th, 2007 at 7:25am
An interpreted, object-oriented programming language developed by Guido van Rossum. It is often compared to Tcl, Perl, Scheme or Java.
The name comes from one of van Rossum’s favorite television shows, Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Python is very portable since Python interpreters are available for most operating system platforms.
Although Python is copyrighted, the source code is open source, and unlike GNU software, it can be commercially re-sold.
Python combines remarkable power with very clear syntax. It has modules, classes, exceptions, very high level dynamic data types, and dynamic typing. There are interfaces to many system calls and libraries, as well as to various windowing systems (X11, Motif, Tk, Mac, MFC).
New built-in modules are easily written in C or C++. Python is also usable as an extension language for applications that need a programmable interface.
The Python implementation is portable: it runs on many brands of UNIX, on Windows, OS/2, Mac, Amiga, and many other platforms.
December 9th, 2007 at 7:24am
It is a secure specification that allows users to access information instantly via handheld wireless devices such as mobile phones, pagers, two-way radios, smartphones and communicators.
WAP supports most wireless networks. These include CDPD, CDMA, GSM, PDC, PHS, TDMA, FLEX, ReFLEX, iDEN, TETRA, DECT, DataTAC, and Mobitex.
WAP is supported by all operating systems. Ones specifically engineered for handheld devices include PalmOS, EPOC, Windows CE, FLEXOS, OS/9, and JavaOS.
WAPs that use displays and access the Internet run what are called microbrowsers–browsers with small file sizes that can accommodate the low memory constraints of handheld devices and the low-bandwidth constraints of a wireless-handheld network.
Although WAP supports HTML and XML, the WML language (an XML application) is specifically devised for small screens and one-hand navigation without a keyboard. WML is scalable from two-line text displays up through graphic screens found on items such as smart phones and communicators. WAP also supports WMLScript. It is similar to JavaScript, but makes minimal demands on memory and CPU power because it does not contain many of the unnecessary functions found in other scripting languages.
December 9th, 2007 at 7:23am
Pronounced ver-mal, and short for Virtual Reality Modeling Language
VRML is a specification for displaying 3-dimensional objects on the World Wide Web. You can think of it as the 3-D equivalent of HTML.
Files written in VRML have a.wrl extension (short for world). To view these files, you need a VRML browser or a VRML plug-in to a Web browser.
VRML produces a hyperspace (or a world), a 3-dimensional space that appears on your display screen. And you can figuratively move within this space.
That is, as you press keys to turn left, right, up or down, or go forwards or backwards, the images on your screen will change to give the impression that you are moving through a real space.
December 9th, 2007 at 7:22am
XML is a pared-down version of SGML, designed especially for Web documents. It allows designers to create their own customized tags, enabling the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data between applications and between organizations.
Accepted as a format in 1998 to replace dependence on HTML extensions.