[oats-sig] new opportunities

background was in remote management (ipmi) and low-level C++ programming,

On 25/09/2007, Tom Nabarro <whizz2000 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> background was in remote management (ipmi) and low-level C++ programming,
> sockets, MFC, server troubleshooting and server management and I've written
> the odd Linux script for server management configuration.

That sounds like a great base to go in any direction. FWIW I started
with embedded C dev in mobile data. Programming down at the metal
gives a good perspective IMO ;-)

>recently I've been looking into speech recognition software

FYI www.komodoopenlab.com are starting to look at this. This is a gap
in OATS provision so should be worth watching.

> I have not been previously acquainted with Python

In addition to Stephen's suggestions with your experience you might
like Mark Pilgrim's www.diveintopython.org. IMO it goes deep and wide
in an accessible way (though misses some of the very latest features).
Martelli's Nutshell book is great but getting out of date.

Without going evangelistic on you I think you'll like Python. Once you
make the shift to a dynamic typed language from C's static typing you
find stuff just seems to work without loads of low level boilerplate
code. The hi level data structures list, tuple, dictionary, sets, are
all a joy. Python uses a few general principles as broadly as possible
and there only a few pythonic idioms to learn. Perhaps the best tip I
can offer is to use the interactive interpreter to experiment use the
great introspection features to explore. The second would be explore
the libraries as there's loads there.

>excuse my ignorance but I don't know
> anything about SVG's, Ally API's.

No, it's my geeky assumptions. SVG is a W3C open standard for scalable
graphics in a web context (cif flash). Rather than bitmaps it
describes the image in primitives like 'line' or 'circle'. a11y =
accessibility and is one of those geeky abbreviations like i18n
(internationalisation) where the number is how many letters have been
removed from the word. The a11y APIs are the interfaces that programs
can use to get at the state of a user interface. On Windows that's
MSAA, UIAutomation and IAccessible2, on Linux it's AT/SPI.

> I have been looking at oatsoft, but this is a large area and it is all new
> to me.>#

Yeah it can feel like a huge learning curve at times. Feel free to ask
as there's people here who can help answer any questions you have.

>I will try to learn about jambu, and set up a LINUX server

Thanks. You want a desktop really I'd recommend Ubuntu Fiesty as a
great starting point (and I'm developing on that so I know it jambu
works on it). You can grab a CD image, order a CD or I could send you
one.
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu

> Sorry for the long warbling post, it won't happen again

No problem. It's great to have an clear idea of where people are. I
agree with Stephen that it would be great to hear what AT you find
works for you and how it could be better.

Does anyone else fancy doing an introduction to themselves?

Cheers

-- 
Steve Lee
--
Open Source Assistive Technology Software
PowerTalk - your presentations can speak for themselves
www.fullmeasure.co.uk