Thursday, December 27, 2007

Relationship to computer hardware

Computer software is so called to contrast with computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. In computers, software is loaded into RAM and executed in the central processing unit. At the lowest level, software consists of a machine language specific to an individual processor. A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions (object code), which change the state of the computer from its preceding state. Software is an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer hardware in a particular sequence. It is usually written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language) than machine language. High-level languages are compiled or interpreted into machine language object code. Software may also be written in an assembly language, essentially, a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet. Assembly language must be assembled into object code via an assembler.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis and learning how these interactions are regulated.

Writing in Nature, William Astbury described molecular biology as:

"... not so much a technique as an approach, an approach from the viewpoint of the so-called basic sciences with the leading idea of searching below the large-scale manifestations of classical biology for the corresponding molecular plan. It is concerned particularly with the forms of biological molecules and ..... is predominantly three-dimensional and structural - which does not mean, however, that it is merely a refinement of morphology - it must at the same time inquire into genesis and function."

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Interactive music

Interactive music also known as nonlinear music or adaptive music, is synonymous with soundtracks to interactive media and in particular computer games.

Recently there has become an increasing trend away from detached linear scores similar to those found in the linear narratives of film, in favor of advanced, carefully designed audio, more tightly integrated with the gameplay in today’s interactive entertainment titles. We are now at the stage where a musical score is able to adapt in real-time to what is happening in a game.

The music in a game is able to adapt to a users movements through a storyline using two techniques. Horizontal re-sequencing is the method by which pre-composed segments of music can be re-shuffled according to a players’ choice of where they go in the storyline or environment. Vertical re-orchestration is the technique of changing the mix of separate parts of an on-going loop, relative to a players movement within the narrative of a game. Recent games such as Bungie Studios' Halo 2 (2005) employ a mixture of these techniques to create their tightly integrated soundtracks.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. As a result, even a nuclear weapon with a small yield is significantly more powerful than the largest conventional explosives, and a single weapon is capable of destroying an entire city.

In the history of warfare, two nuclear weapons have been detonated — both by the United States, during the closing days of World War II. The first was detonated on the morning of 6 August 1945, when the United States dropped a uranium gun-type device code-named "Little Boy" on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The second was detonated three days later when the United States dropped a plutonium implosion-type device code-named "Fat Man" on the city of Nagasaki. These bombings resulted in the immediate deaths of around 120,000 people from injuries sustained from the explosion and acute radiation sickness, and even more deaths over time from long-term effects of radiation. The use of these weapons was and remains controversial.