Pick 3 (computer programs)

weirdjim

weirdjim

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weirdjim
I have an article to write and after perusing the "computer program" thread of six months or so ago, I think I've picked three "can't do without" programs to write about.

However, I can be wrong. If you had to pick 3 programs you just couldn't do without (preferably shareware or free, but payfor is OK also) which 3 would it be?

Pick 3 for the Ipad and three for a lappy running WIndoze. Yeah, I love Linux too, but not everybody is a certified geek like we are.

Thanks for your opinions ...

Jim
 
for Windows
1) A programming language. VB express works for me, but C++ is also good.
2) Excel. Open office is Ok, but I write a lot of XL programs too & XL works with all my customers.
3) A word processor. Word or an Open Office clone

I'm also in e-mail all the time (could be done with web browser), I also use a web browser all the time (lots of lit references on the web), I use a chemical drawing program quite a bit.

For an iPad:
A programming language (do they even have one that runs on the iPad)? A computer you can't program is like a firearm without ammo.

Web browser, e-mail checker.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
for Windows
1) A programming language. VB express works for me, but C++ is also good.
2) Excel. Open office is Ok, but I write a lot of XL programs too & XL works with all my customers.
3) A word processor. Word or an Open Office clone

I'm also in e-mail all the time (could be done with web browser), I also use a web browser all the time (lots of lit references on the web), I use a chemical drawing program quite a bit.

For an iPad:
A programming language (do they even have one that runs on the iPad)? A computer you can't program is like a firearm without ammo.

Web browser, e-mail checker.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have been more specific. AVIATION programs.

THanks,

Jim
 
I use the NOAA/AWC Flight Path Tool before pretty much every flight. FPT. Works cross platform, too, since it's just java app, so us linux geeks can use it. That and Chrome are the only programs I use regularly in relation to flying.

Don't have an iPad, so can't recommend anything there.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
A programming language (do they even have one that runs on the iPad)? A computer you can't program is like a firearm without ammo.

Web browser, e-mail checker.
Click to expand...
You cannot develop for an iPad on an iPad, at least in any way that'd be productive. The best/only supported way is in Xcode on a Mac. There is no way I'd want to attempt to program anything significant without a good IDE, keyboard, and preferably dual monitors
 
jesse said:
You cannot develop for an iPad on an iPad, at least in any way that'd be productive. The best/only supported way is in Xcode on a Mac. There is no way I'd want to attempt to program anything significant without a good IDE, keyboard, and preferably dual monitors
Click to expand...
Oh man! That's like saying one can't fly a plane without a glass cockpit with a functioning GPS!!:D:D:D
 
weirdjim said:
Pick 3 for the Ipad and three for a lappy running WIndoze. Yeah, I love Linux too, but not everybody is a certified geek like we are.
Click to expand...

No Mac either. ;)

There's nothing I actually *need* on a Windows machine other than Outlook when the Mac integration to the company Exchange server gets wonky. Oh, anti-virus too. And the Windows virus itself gets contained inside a virtual machine on my laptop.

On the iPad, the only thing I *need* is Foreflight and the built-in Apps. Especially the e-mail client.

On Linux, the only thing I *need* is init. ;) ;) ;)

Got a lot of other stuff loaded though. ;)
 
No installed software, just web based:

1 - Fltplan.com
2 - Duats
3 - Skyvector
 
Windows:
Jepp's FliteStar
Dauntless' Safelog
Firefox - with this I automatically get DUATS

iPad:
Don't use it in the cockpit, I have a Garmin 196, and don't fly IFR.

On the other hand I'm a registered iPhone/iPad/Macintosh developer and have the entire development suite on the Mac. Right now I'm trying to decide on a new iPad app to develop. Everything I've been doing is for inhouse or proprietary customer.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
Oh man! That's like saying one can't fly a plane without a glass cockpit with a functioning GPS!!:D:D:D
Click to expand...

The keyword is significant. I hammer our scripts in vi on a daily basis, but if I were to build something "significant" (which to me is at leadt a few hundred hours of work) there is no way I'd do so without the right tools.
 
jesse said:
The keyword is significant. I hammer our scripts in vi on a daily basis, but if I were to build something "significant" (which to me is at leadt a few hundred hours of work) there is no way I'd do so without the right tools.
Click to expand...
Jesse- I was just funnin' with you.

As I typed that, I reflected on the dual screens I now use at work. I also reflected on how well you'd manage (actually, you'd do pretty well) on the "old tools"- punch cards, punched tape, a writing pad, and entering your program through a teletype like the ones shown in the original Andromeda Strain movie or paddle switches. The right tools are the best you can get at the time.
 
"We are living in post PC era" - I don't use PC for aviation except for web browser.
On iPad:
1. WingX - for everything
2. FlightScale - W&B
3. SkyCharts Pro as a backup for WingX.
 
Web browser (usually IE or FF) on Windows
  • SkyVector
  • AOPA
  • ADDS
DUATS would be my 4th. I don't need no iPad. :yikes:

I had my day as a hardcore emacs user. VI for remote stuff still, but these days its VisualStudio 2010. I'm past memorizing APIs as a way to declare to no one who cares that I'm a "real programmer". Not that I have been for a couple of years anyway. :rolleyes:
 
Artiom said:
"We are living in post PC era" - I don't use PC for aviation except for web browser.
Click to expand...

Isn't a tablet just a touch-screen driven *very* personal computer?

Maybe, "I don't use a big clunky desktop machine or laptop with a hardware keyboard and mouse running a bloatware OS and enormous applications that eat space and resources because developers don't care," states it better? ;)

Not picking on you. Picking on the dumb terminology my own industry's Marketing wonks come up with. Ha. "Post PC era" indeed. We just moved the processors and RAM to the data center where they came out of in the "Post-Mainframe era". :rofl:

Centralized graphical computing, brought to you by Dow-Corning and a whole lot of tiny little strings of glass buried in the ground and some bright folks who figured out how to make safe portable lithium-ion batteries that *usually* don't catch fire. ;) ;) ;)
 
jesse said:
The keyword is significant. I hammer our scripts in vi on a daily basis, but if I were to build something "significant" (which to me is at leadt a few hundred hours of work) there is no way I'd do so without the right tools.
Click to expand...

If someone came oujt with netbeans or eclipse for Android, id do it on my eeePad without delay.

Its that good.

But I wouldn't use anything less than a full ide on it though.
 
denverpilot said:
Isn't a tablet just a touch-screen driven *very* personal computer?

Maybe, "I don't use a big clunky desktop machine or laptop with a hardware keyboard and mouse running a bloatware OS and enormous applications that eat space and resources because developers don't care," states it better? ;)

Not picking on you. Picking on the dumb terminology my own industry's Marketing wonks come up with. Ha. "Post PC era" indeed. We just moved the processors and RAM to the data center where they came out of in the "Post-Mainframe era". :rofl:

Centralized graphical computing, brought to you by Dow-Corning and a whole lot of tiny little strings of glass buried in the ground and some bright folks who figured out how to make safe portable lithium-ion batteries that *usually* don't catch fire. ;) ;) ;)
Click to expand...
Sure thing today's smartphone has a spec of desktop PC few years back:rolleyes: with even better screen resolution:)
 
Desktop:
-Firefox (use daily)
-LogtenPro (use daily)

iPad:
WnBPro (use about once a week)
E6BPro (use daily)
Foreflight (use daily)
 
Desktop (er, laptop) aviation apps:
1) LogTen Pro
2) uhhhh... Pretty much the rest I do in a browser.
3) Hey look, there's my iPad, I'll use it instead.

iPad:
1) ForeFlight.
2) I have 14 other aviation-related apps that combined don't get as much use as ForeFlight... But I'll give honorable mention to Jesse's apps (E6B Pro and WnB Pro) as well as Numbers, which I also use for weight and balance.
3) Did I mention ForeFlight? And that I use it more than all my other aviation apps combined?
 
On a PC:

1. a good browser (just switched to Chrome. I.E. always sucks and FF gets worse with every update). Pretty much everything for aviation is web-based.
2. Adobe acrobat - to read manuals, etc
3. FinePrint - for its custom printing capabilities.


On the iPad:
1. ForeFlight
2. Good Reader
3. Sporty's E6B
 
I guess, to answer the question:

For Computer (Ubuntu 10.04LTS):
1. Chrome and or Firefox for web apps
2. NetBeans for aviation development
3. ??? Nothing else aviation-y

For eeePad:
1. Naviator
2. Google+ App (for sharing Aviation Pics)
3. FltPlan Mobile
 
Matlab.

DUUUuuuuuuUUUUHHHhhhh.

Nice weight and balance graphs on demand with annotations automatically added as necessary.

"How much weight would I have to remove to make a Extra 300 clone fit under LSA rules?" (With an O-200 instead of the IO-540 another 254 pounds gets the gross, stall speed, and max speed within the rules)

There is no end to the fun.
 
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