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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Ten Questions and Answers about Eastern Catholicism for Roman Catholics

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"
    --George Santayana

In our history of Catholicism, this quot is certainly true. Contrary to popular belief, the term "Catholic Church" is not synonymous with the term "Roman Catholic Church". If you are a cradle Catholic or a recent convert to Catholicism, you might be surprised to know that there is a whole other side to Catholicism that you might have heard little to nothing about in your catechism classes. Yes, I am talking about the Eastern Catholic Churches. In the past, ignorance of Eastern Catholicism by Roman Catholics has lead to persecution that could have been easily avoided. To close this gap on the modern generation of people, I have made a simple Q&A which answers some popular questions about Eastern Catholicism.

  1. What is Eastern Catholicism?

    Eastern Catholicism refers to the churches (in the East) which are autonomous, but are in full communion with Rome. Each Catholic Church has its own patriarch (the pope is considered the patriarch for the western church) which manages that Catholic Church, the pope is considered to be the first among equals. Even though Western Catholicism and Eastern Catholicism do have different aspects, they are still catholic in that both share in the same beliefs, professed in the Nicene Creed and the Apostle's Creed. However, the ways in which those beliefs are expressed differ in the East.
  2. I am a Roman Catholic. Can I still fulfill my Sunday obligation by attending Mass at an Eastern Rite Church?

    Yes, any Catholic can fulfill his or here Sunday obligation by attending Mass at any Catholic Church in communion with Rome regardless of rite. This being said, we are still bound to mainly participate in the rite in which we belong (if you are a Roman Catholic, even though you may attend Mass many times at an Eastern Catholic Church, you are still a Roman Catholic). If, for some reason, you feel called by God to change the rite in which you belong to and are serious about it, it is possible. If you want me to explain more about the process of changing rites, please indicate so in the comment box below, and I will address it in my next article.

    There are also rites other than the Roman Catholic Church which exist in the Western church as well, but the explanation of those is not the purpose of this article.
  3. Isn't Eastern Orthodox (or Oriental Orthodox) the same as Eastern Catholic?

    Not quite. Many people think of the Catholic Church being, on one side, the Roman Catholics, and on the other side, all of the Eastern Christians are grouped into the Eastern/Oriental Orthodox, which are apart from Rome due to schism. This thought is categorization is false. It is true that the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox have the same beliefs, liturgy, and teachings as their Catholic counterparts, but the main difference is that Eastern Catholics are in communion with Rome and Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox are not. Except for one case, each Eastern Catholic Church has an Eastern/Oriental Orthodox counterpart. The exception to this is the Maronite Catholic Church, which has never separated from Rome.

    It is because of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox not being in communion with Rome that Catholics (whether western or eastern) cannot attend an Orthodox Divine Liturgy as the Sunday obligation.
  4. If I attend Mass at a Catholic church which is a different rite from which I belong to, do I have to observe the Eucharistic fast for that rite in order to receive communion?

    No, each Catholic is bound to observe the Eucharistic fasting time (in order to receive the Eucharist) which his or her respective rite has set fourth. In other words, Roman Catholics still observe the 1 hour fast before communion. For Eastern Catholics, even though you may attend Mass at a Roman Rite Church, you must still observe the fasting time set forth by your respective rite. However, if the rite of the church in which you are going to for Mass has a longer fasting period than your own rite does, there is nothing to stop you from matching that amount of time you must fast before receiving the Eucharist.
  5. Do I receive communion in an Eastern Catholic Mass the same way that I receive communion at a Roman Catholic Mass?

    No. All of the Eastern Catholic rites in existence do not have communion in the hand. In contrast to Roman Catholics, where the norm for receiving communion is on the tongue while you are kneeling, the norm for receiving communion in the Eastern rites is by intinction while you are standing.
  6. Why do Eastern Catholics use leavened bread instead of unleavened bread for the Eucharist?

    This is a matter of tradition. Traditionally, the western church has used unleavened bread and the eastern church has used leavened bread. Both are considered valid matter for confecting the Eucharist. The exception to this is the Maronite Rite, which still uses intinction for distributing communion, but uses unleavened bread (like the Roman Rite) instead of leavened bread.
  7. Will I do much singing if I go to an Eastern Catholic Mass?

    Yes, you will. The Eastern rites do not have a history of using instruments to accompany the people singing. In fact, the Eastern rites have much more singing in the Mass than the Western rites do (almost everything is chanted, including the readings). If you are not good at singing, still put your heart and soul into your singing, as you are probably not the only one in this situation.
  8. As a Roman Catholic, can I go to an Eastern Catholic priest for the sacrament of Confession?

    Yes, you can. As long as the priest has faculties to hear confessions, any Catholic priest (in communion with Rome) may hear your confession and grant you absolution.
  9. Do the Eastern Catholics recognize the same saints as Roman Catholics?

    The answer to this question is "partially". Both westerners and easterners recognize the same saints up until the time of the great schism in 1054 (if I am wrong about this, please let me know so I can correct this). After the schism, there was a divide in which saints were recognized as saints in the East and in the West. As part of the reconciliation between Rome and those in the Eastern rites which wanted to be in communion with Rome again, the Eastern Catholic Churches recognize the same saints in which the Roman Catholic Church does. However, the reverse is not true. There are some people recognized as saints by the Orthodox churches, but not by the Roman Catholic Church, which got "imported" as saints for the respective church's calendar when that Eastern church reunited with Rome. An example of this would be Saint Gregory Palamas, which the Eastern Orthodox churches recognize as a saint (and the Byzantine Catholic churches also recognize by extension), but the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize as a saint.
  10. Are Eastern Catholic priest bound to celibacy like Roman Catholic priests are?

    This may surprise some, but the answer to this question is also "partially". The Eastern Catholic Churches do have a history of a married priesthood. This means that married men (in those rites) are allowed to be ordained priests, but priests cannot marry. A married priest has as much power as a celibate priest does, so he can do things like confect a valid Eucharist and hear confessions just as well as a celibate priest can. If a priest is married and his wife dies, the priest cannot marry again and is then bound to celibacy for the rest of his life. This said, celibacy, even though it may be optional in the Eastern rites, is still strongly emphasized as an ideal for priests. This is manifested in the fact that, even though married men can be ordained priests, the bishops in the Eastern rites MUST be celibate. Deacons in the Eastern churches, like in the Roman Catholic Church, may either be celibate or married.

    As far as the Eastern rites and the married priesthood goes, things are a bit different here in the United States. In the US, a married priest still has all rights and responsibilities granted to him as his celibate counterparts. However, due to conflicts in the early part of Eastern Catholic history here in the US between Eastern Catholics and Roman Catholic bishops, the married priesthood is not fully recognized in the US. During the conflict, some Roman Catholic bishops offered no aid to Eastern Catholics and did things like denying faculties to Eastern Catholic priests to offer Mass in their dioceses. As a result of this conflict, the Holy See made a decree that stated that only celibate or widowed Eastern Catholic priests are allowed in the US (and all married priest should be recalled). As time went on, this was softened (as in married priests being allowed to live and work as priests in the US), but the fact still remains that only celibate men may be ordained as priests in the Eastern Rite churches here in the United States. Some Eastern Catholic bishops have gone around this by sending (married) priesthood candidates back to the "old country" (the land they were in before coming to the United States) to be ordained, and then bring them back to the United States, but this behavior is unusual.

    As a further note, there are a few Eastern Catholic Churches, such as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, which has opted to give up its historical right to have married priests.
 I will end by saying that the number of Catholics Churches does not equal the number of Catholic rites in existence. The Roman Rite is spread out all across the world, but it is still considered one church. In the East, in some instances, you have "national" churches. These churches may share the same rite, but they are considered separate Catholic Churches. An example of this can be found in the Ruthenian Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which both use the Byzantine Rite.

I hope this has sparked your curiosity to learn more about our faith and about the other rites of the Church. Maybe, instead of going to the Catholic Church you usually attend on Sunday, try attending an Eastern Catholic church in your area one time. The USCCB is gracious enough to provide a list of eparchies (the Eastern Catholic equivalent of a diocese) here in the US, and from there you can use it to find the closest Eastern Catholic Church to you. If you have thoughts or more questions about Eastern Catholicism, please post them in the comment box below, and I will address them in a future article.

link to list of eparchies: http://www.usccb.org/about/bishops-and-dioceses/all-eparchies.cfm

Let us also not forget to pray for unity between the Eastern and Western churches, so that we may (truly) be "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church".

I know how hard it is for some people to wake up in the morning without coffee. If you are going to drink coffee, why not drink it like a mystic monk? Some tasty Mystic Monk Coffee (use this link or click on the picture below to access the store and purchase) is what you really need when it comes to coffee. Trust me, it's good coffee (in most instances, much better than Starbucks coffee) and you won't regret buying some (just keep it away from your computer keyboard or laptop/tablet). For the summer (or what's left of it), they are also offering Iced Coffee as well. If you like tea more than coffee, they also offer tea. Using the link (or picture below) to buy the coffee (or tea) helps the monks out and helps me with college expenses as well. The coffee (or tea) also makes for great gifts as well.








Feel free to try out my apps for Windows Phone: Mobile Media Manager, a media player app I made which has some features which (I feel) are missing from the system Zune player, and BSA Eagle Tracker, an app that boy scouts can use to track their progress to Eagle Scout (when the scout handbook isn't always handy). The update for the paid version of Mobile Media Manager is out, but my last submission update for the free version is (still) currently in Microsoft Apphub certification. BSA Eagle Tracker will also be getting a bug fix for an obscure bug I noticed recently.

BSA Eagle Tracker download: http://bit.ly/Mm1Upo
Mobile Media Manager (paid version) download: http://bit.ly/y3rf6V
Mobile Media Manager (free version) download: http://bit.ly/xGCsWE

Monday, August 20, 2012

A Reflection on Today's Readings for the Memorial of St. Bernard

Well, this week is a big one in the Church. We have so many feasts of saints in the church this week. Today, we celebrate the memorial of St. Bernard, one of the great monastics of the Church.

link to today's daily scripture readings for Mass: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/082012.cfm

Our first reading comes from the book of Ezekiel. In this reading, God first says to Ezekiel that he will take away "the delight of your eyes, but do not mourn or weep or shed any tears." God does exactly that, and Ezekiel is instructed by God not to mourn for his loss.The people, wondering what all this means, asked Ezekiel and he says the following:
Thus the word of the LORD came to me:
Say to the house of Israel:
Thus says the Lord GOD:
I will now desecrate my sanctuary, the stronghold of your pride,
the delight of your eyes, the desire of your soul.
The sons and daughters you left behind shall fall by the sword.
Ezekiel shall be a sign for you:
all that he did you shall do when it happens.
Thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
You shall do as I have done,
not covering your beards nor eating the customary bread.
Your turbans shall remain on your heads, your sandals on your feet.
You shall not mourn or weep,
but you shall rot away because of your sins and groan one to another.
God says that he will take what is dear to them and ruin it. At this point in time, the Israelites were in a state of exile. God gently reminds the Israelites that they are still in exile and does not allow the them to mourn because of their past sins. All this is a part of the preparation for the coming of Christ.

In our Responsorial Psalm, we have the response of "You have forgotten God who gave you birth."In this psalm, God is angry at the Israelites for forgetting him and putting idols in place of him. This psalm very well applies to today's society as well. American society has grown into a very egotistical one. In the word egotistical, we find the word "ego", which, in Latin, means "I". In other words, our society is all about "me", the individual. With all the bad things that happen in society, like, for example, abortion, the mercy-less killing of the unborn, or contraception, the (unnatural) prevention of new life from existing, we can very well say we have forgotten God and put ourselves in the place of God.

In the gospel reading, we have the familiar story of a rich young man approaching Jesus and asking what you need to inherit eternal life. In short, Jesus says that you must keep his commandments (the ten commandments). What follows is an indication that following the rules is simply not enough:
"If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me."
After this, we read that the young man went away saddened, "for he had many possessions." Now, from a literalistic point of view, we could come to the conclusion that besides following the 10 commandments God gave us, we need to sell everything we have. Some people, such as Saint Francis of Assisi, have done this, but those are the more extreme cases. The real point of this is to say that wealth is not a bad thing, but the wealth (or anything else we hold dear to ourselves) should stand in the way of following Christ and also what you do with that wealth matters. We should not hoard our wealth, but freely give from it without expectation of return to help the poor where we live.

In all of our readings, we find a theme of putting God before all else. Not doing so will result in dire consequences for us all. As I mentioned previously, a great bit of American society has turned away from God and turned to false idols instead. Because of this, we can see the horrible results of this turning away in society today. In an egotistical society, the poor and needy are the hardest hit because everyone cares only about the well-being of himself or herself, so in a way, "I" am more important than helping my brothers and sisters in need. The first step to make right is, as a society, to turn to God once again and ask for his mercy and forgiveness.Without God, a society (or even a civilization) cannot exist and bear good fruits. The sacrament of Confession is a great resource in this regard. After all, it is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles that one must "Be penitent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. That when the times of refreshment shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send him who hath been preached unto you, Jesus Christ". (Acts 3:19)

For the record, I am not a priest or deacon (yet), so I can't call this a "homily" (yet). I am just a layman, but also with the feeling that God is calling me to the priesthood. Please continue to pray for vocations to the priesthood and for society to turn back to God.

Comments on this and suggestions for improvement are very much welcome, as this is some "practice" for when I have to start writing real homilies. Please submit comments and suggestions in the comment box below.

I know how hard it is for some people to wake up in the morning without coffee. If you are going to drink coffee, why not drink it like a mystic monk? Some tasty Mystic Monk Coffee (use this link or click on the picture below to access the store and purchase) is what you really need when it comes to coffee. Trust me, it's good coffee (in most instances, much better than Starbucks coffee) and you won't regret buying some (just keep it away from your computer keyboard or laptop/tablet). For the summer (or what's left of it), they are also offering Iced Coffee as well. If you like tea more than coffee, they also offer tea. Using the link (or picture below) to buy the coffee (or tea) helps the monks out and helps me with college expenses as well. The coffee (or tea) also makes for great gifts as well.







Feel free to try out my apps for Windows Phone: Mobile Media Manager, a media player app I made which has some features which (I feel) are missing from the system Zune player, and BSA Eagle Tracker, an app that boy scouts can use to track their progress to Eagle Scout (when the scout handbook isn't always handy). The update for the paid version of Mobile Media Manager is out, but my last submission update for the free version in Microsoft Apphub certification failed, so release of the update to the free version will be a few days (< 7). BSA Eagle Tracker is also getting a bug fix for an obscure bug I noticed recently.

BSA Eagle Tracker download: http://bit.ly/Mm1Upo
Mobile Media Manager (paid version) download: http://bit.ly/y3rf6V
Mobile Media Manager (free version) download: http://bit.ly/xGCsWE

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Some Short News for Computer Science Students and Teachers in Fall 2012

It's that time of year again where everyone starts to realize that summer break is almost over and it is time to head back to school. With this, I have a few announcements for those being educated in Computer Science.

What better way is there to start the preparation for the school year off than by installing Windows 8 on your computer? Tomorrow, Windows 8 will make its way on MSDN. I am sure, by default, this will also apply for MSDNAA as well, which has now been integrated into Dreamspark. If it doesn't exactly show up tomorrow, check back in a day or two. You might be better off doing that anyway, as I am sure there will be much traffic on MSDN trying to download the RTM version of Windows 8.

Speaking of Dreamspark, students (especially freshmen) should know that Microsoft is generous to students, so generous that you have access to a good bit of software for free which, otherwise (if you weren't a student), would cost you some major $$$. This software includes products like Windows (so, for example, if you got the Home Premium flavor of Windows 7 installed on your computer, you can upgrade it to the Pro flavor of Windows 7. For development purposes, you also get access to Visual Studio for free. These are just some examples, but you get the idea.

As I mentioned before, start thinking ideas for your school's Imagine Cup team. If your school doesn't have a team, you can always start one. The Imagine Cup is open to both high school and college students, but be warned that winning will not be easy. Still, do not let the fact that winning is hard get in the way of you or your team.

With Windows 8 comes WinRT, a whole new set of APIs for Windows. Windows 8 programs can be written in javascript, c#, or c++. Feel free to combine languages if you like, but be warned there are constraints when working in more than 1 language on the same project.

Well, this all for now in this new briefing, but I hope that you can do something with this information. For students, all you really have to pay for when getting a new computer is the hardware. As an additional request, I know there are those of us who really like a company's software and exhibit fanboy-like behavior and there are those of us who don't care and just "use what works". If you are going to have debates between software and/or hardware products this year (like Windows 8 vs Mac OS X Mountain Lion), please do so with charity and don't reduce things to ad hominem attacks. If it comes down to using ad hominem attacks, you've basically lost the debate (automatically).

As a college student myself, I know what a drag it can be in the morning if I don't have my coffee to get me started. If you are going to drink coffee, why not drink it like a mystic monk. Some tasty Mystic Monk Coffee (use this link or click on the picture below to access the store and purchase) is what you really need when it comes to coffee. Trust me, it's good coffee (in most instances, much better than Starbucks coffee) and you won't regret buying some (just keep it away from your computer keyboard or laptop/tablet). For the summer (or what's left of it), they are also offering Iced Coffee as well. If you like tea more than coffee, they also offer tea. Using the link (or picture below) to buy the coffee (or tea) helps the monks out and helps me with college expenses as well.






Feel free to try out my apps for Windows Phone: Mobile Media Manager, a media player app I made which has some features which (I feel) are missing from the system Zune player, and BSA Eagle Tracker, an app that boy scouts can use to track their progress to Eagle Scout (when the scout handbook isn't always handy). The update for the paid version of Mobile Media Manager is out, but my last submission update for the free version in Microsoft Apphub certification failed, so release of the update to the free version will be a few days (< 7). BSA Eagle Tracker is also getting a bug fix for an obscure bug I noticed recently.

BSA Eagle Tracker download: http://bit.ly/Mm1Upo
Mobile Media Manager (paid version) download: http://bit.ly/y3rf6V
Mobile Media Manager (free version) download: http://bit.ly/xGCsWE

Friday, August 10, 2012

New Domain for Catholic Tech Geek

I just thought I would let all of my readers know that I now have a (proper) domain name for this blog. If you attempt to visit the blog via the old address (catholictechgeek.blogspot.com), it will just redirect you to the new domain (at least, for the time being, which is indefinite). Please take a moment to update your bookmarks to the new address.

I might also add that navigating to this blog might be a bit rocky within the next 24 hours of the publishing time of this post. I am sorry if this causes any inconveniences.

The new url for this blog is: http://www.catholictechgeek.com/

To celebrate, why don't you try some tasty Mystic Monk Coffee (use this link or click on the picture below to access the store and purchase). Trust me, it's good coffee (in most instances, much better than Starbucks coffee) and you won't regret buying some (just keep it away from your computer keyboard or laptop/tablet). For the summer, they are also offering Iced Coffee for purchase as well. If you like tea more than coffee, they also offer tea. Using the link (or picture below) to buy the coffee (or tea) helps the monks out and helps me with college expenses as well.





Thursday, August 9, 2012

Some Things You Need to Watch Out For in WinRT

We all know that Windows 8 is coming out in October. We also know that developers are hard at work trying to ready their apps for Windows 8 when it is finally released. However, if you're new to WinRT or have a big amount of experience coding using C++ or one of the .Net languages like C#, there are some things you have to watch out for.

For your primitive data types, WinRT supports 99.9% of the primitive types supported in the .Net Framework languages. The only ones it doesn't support are 8-bit signed integers. I will also add that Javascript limits a Number to only 53 bits, so be careful when dealing with large numbers.

Compared to C++ which allows mutable strings, the .Net languages consider strings to be immutable. WinRT has taken the route of strings being immutable (even in C++), and the use of NULL or (nullptr) with strings is now frowned upon. Any string which is set to NULL is treated as an empty string (with 0 characters).

In the fight between pass by reference and pass by value, WinRT only passes interfaces as references. All other types are passed by value. This means that you should be careful when passing objects. Structs are allowed, but structs can only hold information of semantic value (such as strings, numbers, and other structs). Pointers inside a struct are not supported. If you are programming using Javascript, please note that Structs are not directly supported. In this case, if you want a struct in javascript, you will have to create a Class which just holds values, mimicking the functionality of a struct.

In Data Structures, we have a big change. Arrays normally are reference types, pointing to a "group" of same-type values (or objects) as part of one big memory chunk. In WinRT, arrays are now value types. I am not sure how the memory management actually works yet (whether it's still one big chunk for the group or not).

For events, you handle them the same way that you normally do in your language of choice (for example, in C#, you add event listeners using += and remove event listeners using -=, so you still continue this practice when developing WinRT programs).

For method overloading, WinRT changes how this works. Normally in method overloading, you can either use a different number of parameters for each declaration of a function, different types of parameters for each declaration of a function (for example, the function displayMessageOnScreen(string message) and displayMessageOnScreen(char[] message)), or a combination of the two approaches. In WinRT, method overloading is determined by the number of parameters, so something like the example I gave above would throw an error in WinRT.

As far as Collections go, many of the collection types found in .Net have a couterpart in WinRT. As far as specific changes go, the WinRT Vector type resembles arrays and the array syntax is used to consume them and the WinRT Map type is a key/value pair collection, and is projected as Dictionary in .NET languages.

Regarding asynchronous functions, all functions taking more than 50 milliseconds to complete is deemed an "async method.

For information, please see http://channel9.msdn.com/events/BUILD/BUILD2011/PLAT-876T. I hope this is helpful to you in some way, shape, or form when developing WinRT programs.

If you have any thoughts or comments of your own about this, feel free to share them via the comment box below or e-mail me at catholictechgeek@gmail.com.You can also find me on twitter (twitter username is @rctechgeek). Feel free to subscribe to my rss feed too. I am now on Tumblr now as well (link to Tumblr is http://www.tumblr.com/blog/catholictechgeek), so please follow me on Tumblr too.

If you're feeling thirsty while using the computer or can't quite stay awake while using one, drink  (or give someone you care about) some tasty Mystic Monk Coffee (use this link or click on the picture below to access the store and purchase). Trust me, it's good coffee (in most instances, much better than Starbucks coffee) and you won't regret buying some (just keep it away from your computer keyboard or laptop/tablet). For the summer, they are also offering Iced Coffee as well. If you like tea more than coffee, they also offer tea. Using the link (or picture below) to buy the coffee (or tea) helps the monks out and helps me with college expenses as well.









Feel free to try out my apps for Windows Phone: Mobile Media Manager, a media player app I made which has some features which (I feel) are missing from the system Zune player, and BSA Eagle Tracker, an app that boy scouts can use to track their progress to Eagle Scout (when the scout handbook isn't always handy). The update for the paid version of Mobile Media Manager is out, but my last submission update for the free version in Microsoft Apphub certification failed, so release of the update to the free version will be a few days (< 7). BSA Eagle Tracker is also getting a bug fix for an obscure bug I noticed recently.

BSA Eagle Tracker download: http://bit.ly/Mm1Upo
Mobile Media Manager (paid version) download: http://bit.ly/y3rf6V
Mobile Media Manager (free version) download: http://bit.ly/xGCsWE

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Imagine Cup 2013: Start Thinking Now

Well, it is still summer, but we are now in August, which is when students and teachers start thinking about heading back to school. While we are on the subject of school, if you are looking for something to do with your computer science class this year, look no further than the Imagine Cup.

The Imagine Cup is a software competition for students that Microsoft holds every year. Each year has a theme based on the UN Millennium goals. Depending on the sector of the competition you are a part of, you have to design a piece of software that reflects the theme.

There are a few sections of the Imagine Cup, but the most popular are Software Design and Game Design. In Software Design, students have to come up with a solution to a problem (based on the UN Millennium Goals) using hardware and Microsoft software. The team who comes up with the best solution to the team's problem wins. In game design, students design a game (based on the UN Millennium Goals) for either Windows Phone or Xbox which reflects the year's theme.

Participation in the competition can be done by both high school students and college students.

The competition (at least, for the competitions mentioned above) consists of 4 rounds. In round 1, the team submits a plan, which includes a storyboard and a description. A team can also submit an alpha or beta build, but it is optional for this round. All entries which survive round 1 move on to round 2. In round 2, teams need to submit a working prototype, an updated project plan, and a video describing the whole thing. If you survive round 2, things get better.

Round 3 is the US finals (or if you don't live in the United States, your country's finals). Here, you and your team get flown out to Redmond for a visit to Microsoft's headquarters where, incidentally, the US Finals are held. As a bonus, anyone who makes it this far in the competition gets a free opportunity to interview for a Microsoft internship or, if you are a senior in college, a full-time job at Microsoft. This also the round when your project gets voted on by millions of people on Facebook to determine the People's Choice. The first place winners of the Software Design competition move on to round 4, the last round of the competition. The first place winners of the Game Design competition are recognized, but do not get to move on to round 4 because every country participating in the Imagine Cup has a Software Design competition, but not every country has a Game Design competition.

Round 4 is the World Finals. Here, the winners of the Software Design competitions from all over gather to see which one is the best in the world. Word has it that the world finals are going to be held in Russia in 2013.

So, I hope I've gotten your interest. While the theme for the 2013 competition has not been revealed yet, you can preregister. For more information on the Imagine Cup competion, please see http://bit.ly/fcPDqa. For everything you need for the competition, students can get any software you need via Dreamspark.

If you have any thoughts or comments of your own about the Imagine Cup or if you are thinking of entering the 2013 competion, feel free to share your thoughts and comments via the comment box below or e-mail me at catholictechgeek@gmail.com.You can also find me on twitter (twitter username is @rctechgeek). Feel free to subscribe to my rss feed too. I am now on Tumblr now as well (link to Tumblr is http://www.tumblr.com/blog/catholictechgeek), so please follow me on Tumblr too.

If you're feeling thirsty while using the computer or can't quite stay awake while using one, drink  (or give someone you care about) some tasty Mystic Monk Coffee (use this link or click on the picture below to access the store and purchase). Trust me, it's good coffee (in most instances, much better than Starbucks coffee) and you won't regret buying some (just keep it away from your computer keyboard or laptop/tablet). For the summer, they are also offering Iced Coffee as well. If you like tea more than coffee, they also offer tea. Using the link (or picture below) to buy the coffee (or tea) helps the monks out and helps me with college expenses as well.









Feel free to try out my apps for Windows Phone: Mobile Media Manager, a media player app I made which has some features which (I feel) are missing from the system Zune player, and BSA Eagle Tracker, an app that boy scouts can use to track their progress to Eagle Scout (when the scout handbook isn't always handy). The update for the paid version of Mobile Media Manager is out, but my last submission update for the free version in Microsoft Apphub certification failed, so release of the update to the free version will be a few days (< 7). BSA Eagle Tracker is also getting a bug fix for an obscure bug I noticed recently.

BSA Eagle Tracker download: http://bit.ly/Mm1Upo
Mobile Media Manager (paid version) download: http://bit.ly/y3rf6V
Mobile Media Manager (free version) download: http://bit.ly/xGCsWE

Does Windows 8 and WinRT mean Death to the Command Line in Windows?

First, if you didn't get the news, Windows 8 has been released to computer manufacturers (OEMS) so they can start on developing device drivers and other components for Windows 8. If you have a MSDN subscription, you can grab the RTM version on August 15.

With Windows 8 comes a big emphasis on (graphical) user interface in programming. A big part of this is developing with touch in mind and what you can do with touch. However, I am concerned that the graphical user interface is being somewhat overemphasized and the usefulness of the command line is in danger of being neglected.

For those of you who haven't done work in Linux or are too young to remember MSDOS, a command line (on Windows, I believe it is called "Command Prompt") is a tool you use to type in and execute a program and any (special?) parameters for it. Up until Windows 95, you needed to have MSDOS installed to run windows. Windows 95 was the first release of windows to be independent of the command line. This trend that Windows 95 started has continued through further release versions of Windows even through today. Even though Windows 95 and any future releases of Windows can run independent of the command line, Microsoft still includes a console program to access the command line in Windows.

I will admit that a graphical user interface makes computer use much easier, especially for those who are "computer-challenged" or don't know a lot about computers. However, the command line offers much more power than any graphical user interface. You can specify exactly the program and any parameters you want the program to run with. If you launch a program from a graphical user interface, it either launch with the "default" options and no special parameters or, if using a shortcut, whatever parameters are configured for the given program in that shortcut. It is possible for programs which have a graphical user interface (gui) to also have parameters which can be used on the command line. Most of the time, these parameters for programs with a gui are either hidden away somewhere (such as the README) or not disclosed.

In Windows 8, Microsoft DID include the command line. I know this is certainly true for the 32-bit and 64-bit X86 builds of Windows 8 (partially, I think, because of desktop mode). However, there is still no word yet on whether Microsoft will include the command line for the ARM build of Windows 8. This is further complicated by the fact that the LaunchFileAsync() function found in the Launcher class in WinRT will not launch files which contain executable code. With this function, the file chosen will be launched by the default program associated with the file's extension or you can use an "Open File With" dialog box to choose which program will open that file type. For more details on the Launcher class, please see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/br241801.aspx.

The fact that you cannot use a program to launch another program (command line excepted) is not a problem for most developers in most situations. However, if there does come an instance where you need to launch an external program in a WinRT program, you will be out of luck. This is particularly true for those of you who use rom kitchens to build custom roms for your smartphone or pocket pc. As to not derail the purpose of this article, I will touch on rom kitchens in Windows 8 in a future article.

Touch does pose a problem in implementing a command line. The command line, at its conception, never envisioned that people would use touch (or a stylus) with it. The command line was designed for use with a hardware keyboard. To get around this, you can use a "soft" keyboard (or handwriting recognition software when using a stylus, but this is not foolproof) to type in the command line on a computer which lacks a hardware keyboard. This is the approach used in Windows XP Tablet, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and any handheld varieties of Linux. In a touch world, the command line will have to "evolve" so that there is an onscreen keyboard which is movable on the screen to wherever the user wants it AND be able to view what you are typing using the onscreen keyboard. One approach to this could be having the onscreen keyboard at the bottom of the screen and any console output above the keyboard without the console output and the onscreen keyboard overlapping.

As always, a good graphical user interface will always make your users happy, since most of the users are not heavy power users which need a command line. The big thing is to have the great emphasis on an excellent graphical user interface, but not to leave the big power users which need a command line out in the cold in the process.

So what do you think this situation? If you have any thoughts or comments of your own about this, feel free to share them via the comment box below or e-mail me at catholictechgeek@gmail.com.You can also find me on twitter (twitter username is @rctechgeek). Feel free to subscribe to my rss feed too. I am now on Tumblr now as well (link to Tumblr is http://www.tumblr.com/blog/catholictechgeek), so please follow me on Tumblr too.

If you're feeling thirsty while using the computer or can't quite stay awake while using one, drink  (or give someone you care about) some tasty Mystic Monk Coffee (use this link or click on the picture below to access the store and purchase). Trust me, it's good coffee (in most instances, much better than Starbucks coffee) and you won't regret buying some (just keep it away from your computer keyboard or laptop/tablet). For the summer, they are also offering Iced Coffee as well. If you like tea more than coffee, they also offer tea. Using the link (or picture below) to buy the coffee (or tea) helps the monks out and helps me with college expenses as well.








Feel free to try out my apps for Windows Phone: Mobile Media Manager, a media player app I made which has some features which (I feel) are missing from the system Zune player, and BSA Eagle Tracker, an app that boy scouts can use to track their progress to Eagle Scout (when the scout handbook isn't always handy). The update for the paid version of Mobile Media Manager is out, but my last submission update for the free version in Microsoft Apphub certification failed, so release of the update to the free version will be a few days (< 7). BSA Eagle Tracker is also getting a bug fix for an obscure bug I noticed recently.

BSA Eagle Tracker download: http://bit.ly/Mm1Upo
Mobile Media Manager (paid version) download: http://bit.ly/y3rf6V
Mobile Media Manager (free version) download: http://bit.ly/xGCsWE

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The Gift of Giving in the Windows Phone Marketplace

On the developer side of the Windows Phone marketplace, there are enough headaches to deal with, but this is not the purpose of this article. On the user side, the marketplace is relatively stable. Downloading can be done via wi-fi or over 3G/4G cellular internet. What could be improved here is payment options for apps.

Currently, the only options for payment in the Windows Phone marketplace are payment via credit/debit card or payment via cell carrier tab (if your carrier supports this, as I am not sure that all carriers do). However, if you don't have a credit card you can pay with, you are out of luck and can only download the free apps out there.

It would be good if Microsoft did something similar to what Apple did with iTunes. With iTunes, Apple sells gift cards in stores that people can use on iTunes to buy music, as well as apps. Microsoft should have their own "gift card" which people can buy in real life and use in the marketplace. There are many valid reasons for this. One is if a person wishes to impose a spending limit for apps on himself or herself. Another reason would be for a person which doesn't have a credit card due to bad credit or no credit (like teens) And yet another would be for a gift for occasions such a birthday or Christmas.

Another option Microsoft should look into is the ability for developers to "reward" testers. Sometimes, a developer may want to "reward" a beta tester with a "free copy" of the released version of an app on the marketplace as thanks for help with testing pre-release versions of apps. Sometimes, a developer, for whatever reason, may want to give a free copy of his or her paid software to a certain person (such as friends or family) for free. Currently, there is no mechanism in place for the developer to do this. This could be accomplished via a one-time promo code which the developer gives the user and the user inputs at time of buying the app.

To help with the first issue, besides a gift card (in amounts of real money) that people can buy, Microsoft could also look into perhaps using their system of Microsoft points to pay for apps. On the Xbox marketplace or Zune marketplace, you need to use points to pay. Wouldn't it be great if a user had some extra points and he or she could buy your app with it? Using Microsoft's own points conversion to convert the user's points into real money for the developer will have to happen, but I don't think this is a big deal. On a side note, Microsoft should unify their method of payment across the windows phone marketplace, the windows 8 marketplace, the Xbox marketplace and the Zune marketplace by either having all marketplace payments as either "all points" or "all (real) money". I hope that when Windows 8 comes out, Microsoft will have looked at all the problems had with Windows Phone and come up with adequate solutions for them.

Do you think these solutions for alternate payment I have proposed have any merit? If so (or if not), or if you have any thoughts or comments of your own about this, feel free to share them via the comment box below.You can also find me on twitter (twitter username is @rctechgeek). Feel free to subscribe to my rss feed too. I am now on Tumblr now as well (link to Tumblr is http://www.tumblr.com/blog/catholictechgeek), so please follow me on Tumblr too.

If you're feeling thirsty or feel like giving to someone, drink  (or give someone you care about) some tasty Mystic Monk Coffee (use this link or click on the picture below to access the store and purchase). Trust me, it's good coffee (in most instances, much better than Starbucks coffee) and you won't regret buying some (just keep it away from your computer keyboard or laptop/tablet). For the summer, they are also offering Iced Coffee as well. If you like tea more than coffee, they also offer tea. Using the link (or picture below) to buy the coffee (or tea) helps the monks out and helps me with college expenses as well.







Feel free to try out my apps for Windows Phone: Mobile Media Manager, a media player app I made which has some features which (I feel) are missing from the system Zune player, and BSA Eagle Tracker, an app that boy scouts can use to track their progress to Eagle Scout (when the scout handbook isn't always handy). The update for the paid version is out, with the free version currently in Microsoft Apphub certification (due to be out soon within a few days). BSA Eagle Tracker is also getting a bug fix for an obscure bug I noticed recently.

BSA Eagle Tracker download: http://bit.ly/Mm1Upo
Mobile Media Manager (paid version) download: http://bit.ly/y3rf6V
Mobile Media Manager (free version) download: http://bit.ly/xGCsWE

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