Dilum Bandara

Microsoft recently introduced Small Basic, a programming language for beginners. It's a strip down version of BASIC with only 15 key words. It seems to be a fun programming environment & definitely worth while trying. You can write both console & graphical interface enabled programs & even develop your own version of Logo. Some of the features include: Its free 15 key words that support basic programming concepts including conditions & iterations Intellisense & context sensitive help Define variables on the fly, no need to explicitly define them Graphic programming Subroutines Third-party libraries can be plugged, API is given It even comes with a simple but comprehensive user guide that introduce basic programming concepts & Small Basic. Though it's intended for beginners, even advanced develops can use it to write scripts that perform simple day to day tasks.

We had a wonderful gathering yesterday. It was the first formal gathering of students & faculty working at CNRL (Computer Networking Research Laboratory). We had food & desserts from around the world. For 7 graduate students, it was a really good gathering which included Prof. Jayasumana, friends & wife's. Visit to my web album for some pictures of the event. Thanks a lot for everyone's help in making the potluck such a great success....

Last week, I attended my first conference in USA. It was in New Orleans, LA. I also presented a paper on VSN formation in one of the workshops (WMSN 2008). It was amazing to see such a large number of participants & parallel sessions on many aspects related to communication. I also met several Sri Lankans from around the world. New Orleans is a nice & interesting city. It is a historic city & has the oldest operational tramcar system. Of course, I went in a tramcar for the first time in my life. It reminded me the old CTB buses that we have in Sri Lanka. My hotel was in French Quarter so had direct access to most of interesting places in town. I went along the Mississippi riverbanks & saw several steam boats. Bourban street is definitely a worthwhile place to experience modern New Orlean's culture. Anyway, it was a nice experience & could have been even better if I didn't had an exam just after I return. See my album .