2012-11-30

Tweets of the month

29 Nov
RT Tim Berners-Lee @timberners_lee Whups ... Power out for all #MIT. So that's what that big switch does ...

28 Nov
The HDMA provides some interesting data about the US pharmaceutical supply chain http://www.healthcaredistribution.org/about_hdma/about_hdma.asp …

23 Nov
Just made my two latest papers available at my home page: http://web.ist.utl.pt/miguel.pardal/www/pubs/Miguel-Pardal-Publications.html …

19 Nov
Interesting analysis of U.S. Pharma Supply Chain connections complexity http://www.rxtrace.com/2011/05/u-s-pharma-supply-chain-complexity.html/ …

19 Nov
@nokia When will the new Lumia phones with Windows Phone 8 be available in Portugal? I really want one for Christmas! :)

14 Nov
@nokiaportugal Quero muito comprar um Lumia com Windows Phone 8 para este Natal... Quando é que vão estar à venda em Portugal?

7 Nov
IBM Tech advances http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9768132.stm …

7 Nov
Presentation of my #IEEERFID TA paper is now available at http://www.slideshare.net/MiguelLPardal

7 Nov
Something every technology worker should know about: Gartner technology hype cycle http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp …

7 Nov
#IEEERFID Smart Cities merge innovation economy with digital layers over city space. Awareness -> Empowerment -> Saving + Environment

6 Nov
RFID meets the Semantic Web: RFID as universal entry point to enterprise linked data cloud, by Jens Ziegler TU Dresden #IEEERFID

6 Nov
Great talk about wirelessly powered sensor systems and computational RFID by Joshua R. Smith UW #IEEERFID

6 Nov
Attending #IEEERFID TA

How to install Groovy on Windows?

Groovy is a great scripting language for the Java platform.

The first step to install it is to download the archive (ZIP).
http://groovy.codehaus.org/Download?nc

The second step is to unzip to a folder.
For example, C:\Java\groovy\2.0.5

Set GROOVY_HOME to the installation folder.

Then, edit the PATH variable, to add, in the beginning:
%GROOVY_HOME%\bin;

Finally, open a new console and execute the following command that should print the installed Groovy version:
groovy -version

How to install the Java Developer Kit on Windows?

The first step is to download the installation package.
The file to get is the Java Developer Kit (JDK)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

The second step is to execute the installer.

To compile and execute Java programs in the console, a few environment variables must be set.

Set JAVA_HOME to the installation folder.
For example, C:\Java\jdk\1.7.0_09

Then, edit the PATH variable, to add, in the beginning:
%JAVA_HOME%\bin;

Finally, to check if everything is OK, open a new console and execute the following commands that should print the installed Java version number:
javac -version
java -version 

That's it! Happy coding!

How to set environment variables in Windows?

Environment variables are values that, once set, become available to all programs running in the computer.

The value of an environment variable can be used like this: %name%. Typically, environment variables are used to specify program paths and settings.

Some environment variables are set by Windows.
%ProgramFiles% holds the value of the program folder (english Windows: C:\Program Files; portuguese Windows: C:\Programas).
%UserName% holds the user name of the user in session.
%UserProfile% holds the home folder of the user in session.

One of the most used environment variables is PATH, that specifies where the operating system looks for programs.
Folders are separated by the ; character.

To see the value of PATH, execute ECHO %PATH% in the console.
Also, the SET command can print and set environment variables.


To set environment variables permanently on Windows, go to Computer System Properties, Advanced, Environment Variables. The following screen-shots illustrate this procedure for Windows 7.




Environment variables can be defined for the current user (user) or for all users (system).


The new settings only take effect for new consoles.